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PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

THE YOUNG SHAH OF PERSIA

PERSIA AND ITS
PEOPLE

BY

ELLA C. SYKES

AUTHOR OF " THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE "

WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1910

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PREFACE

THIS book is the result of two visits to Persia,
extending over a period of about three years,
during which I had considerable opportunities of travel
and of mixing with the inhabitants.

It was written with the idea of giving a popular
description of Iran, but at the same time I have striven
to be accurate, and where I could not rely on my
personal knowledge I gratefully own my obligation
to the works of Mr. Benjamin, Professor E. G. Browne,
Lord Curzon, Sir C. Markham, Sir W. Muir, Professor
W. Jackson, Sir L. Pelly, and Major Sykes among
others.

I have been particularly fortunate in having had the
benefit of the criticism of Sir Mortimer Durand,
formerly H.B.M.'s Minister at Tehran, his advice
having been most valuable.

Besides this. Major Sykes, Miss Bird, and two
Persian gentlemen have supplied useful information ;
Mr. H. R. Sykes has kindly allowed me to avail myself
of his large collection of photographs, and other illus-
trations are by Mr. Bourke and M. Sevraguine, of
Tehran.

viii PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

I have tried to give a truthful picture of Persia as
it is, dwelling chiefly on those aspects which may be of
interest to the general reader, and my principal diffi-
culty has been to compress all that I wanted to say
within the limits of a single volume.

If the public finds half as much pleasure in reading
my book as I have had in writing it I shall be more
than rewarded.

ELLA C. SYKES

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA . . I

II. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF PERSIA 1 3

III. THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT . 39

IV. THE PERSIAN MAN . . . . .63
V. A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY

VI. THE ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED

VII. A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF
PERSIA

VIII. MUHARRAM

IX. TRAVEL .

X. THE PERSIAN WOMAN

XI. COUNTRY LIFE .

XII. THE PERSI'AN GULF AND THE KARUN RIVER

XIII. FAUNA AND FLORA ....

XIV. MARCO POLO IN PERSIA

ix

106

122

144

196
210

224
238
260

X PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

CHAPTER PAGE

XV. A GLANCE AT THE ANTIQUITIES OF PERSIA. . ^^0

XVI. SPORT AND AMUSEMENTS .... 277

XVII. FOUR PERSIAN POETS ..... 284

XVIII. A SLIGHT ACCOUNT OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF

PERSIA ...... 315

XIX. PERSIAN SUPERSTITIONS AND THE ART OF

MEDICINE . . . . . .325

INDEX . . . . . .341

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE YOUNG SHAH OF PERSIA

A PERSIAN LADY

PERSIAN SCHOOL, BASTINADOING AN UNRULY PUPIL

PRISONERS .....

ENTRANCE TO SHRINE " IMAM REZA "

COURTYARD OF THE SHRINE, " IMAM REZA"

GRAVEYARD ROUND THE SHRINE OF MESHED

POTTER'S STALL AT MESHED .

JAGHERK VALLEY

DASTEH OF lO™ MUHARRAM .

A PERSIAN GENTLEMAN ON THE ROAD

YEZD ....

PERSIAN WOMEN IN OUTDOOR DRESS

GABR WOMAN AND CHILD

THRESHING

A PERSIAN GARDEN

RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS, PROPYLvEA OF XERXES

A PERSIAN CARPET FACTORY .

NOMADS WEAVING CARPETS

PERSIAN BARBER EXTRACTING TEETH

MAP . . . . ,

Frontispiece

FACING PAGE
I

66
84
92

94
98
104
106
ISO
162
178
200
208
215
220
272
320
324
336
340

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

CHAPTER I
SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA

THE Persians call themselves Irani and their land
Iran, the word Persia being derived from the
province of Ears or Pars, from which the Zoroastrians
of Bombay take their name of Parsis.

The country is also known as the " Land of the
Lion and the Sun," and though the king of beasts
has almost died out, yet the symbol of the Zoroas-
trian deity shines glorious as ever, and on the national
standard the sun is depicted with the face of a woman
peering over the back of a lion.

The area of Persia is estimated at 628,000 square
miles, that is to say it is more than three times the
size of France, and its people number only about
nine and a half millions. Therefore it will cause no
surprise to hear that Persia has only fifteen inhabitants
to a square mile, and that it is possible to travel for
days in the country without coming across a village
or even a human being. In fact the entire population
of this great kingdom is considerably under the joint
populations of London, Paris, and New York.

2 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Persia is bounded on the north by the Caspian
Sea and Russia in Asia ; on the west by the Turkish
Empire; on the east by Afghanistan and British
Baluchistan, the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea
washing its southern shores.

Within these boundaries there are enormous diffe-
rences in the formation of the country and the climate.
Cyrus the Great once commented on this fact by
remarking that at one end of his kingdom his sub-
jects might be dying of cold, while at the other
they were being suffocated by the intense heat.

The centre of Persia is a vast plateau, some 2,000
to 6,000 feet in elevation, separated from the low-
lying lands on the Caspian and the Persian Gulf by
formidable mountain barriers, in which are many
splendid peaks, ranging from 13,000 to 15,000 feet
in height.

This table-land is crossed diagonally from north-
west to south-east by frequent chains of mountains
separating wide plains, and it is possible to drive
between these ranges for some hundreds of miles.
But if any one wishes to visit the capital Tehran or
the holy city Meshed from Europe, he must, soon
after leaving the Caspian, cross the Elburz mountains.
This mighty chain runs over five hundred miles from
west to east, and its highest peak, the extinct volcano
Demavend, rises to a height of 20,000 feet.

Moreover, should the traveller wish to penetrate
into the country by way of the Persian Gulf, he
must negotiate a formidable mountain barrier, and
clamber over lofty passes, the kotals between Bushire
and Shiraz always being mentioned in terms of well-
merited obloquy.

SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA 3

The late Dr. Blandford ^ pointed out that, as the edges
of this huge plateau are all higher than its interior,
hardly any of the rivers or streams find their way
to the sea, but lose themselves in marshes, and the
writer remembers seeing from the summit of a hill
how the Zendeh Rud, the famous river on which
Isfahan is built, ended abruptly in a broad, shallow
lake on the wide plain below.

In such a country both the temperature and the rain-
fall vary greatly, and the feverish, moist heat of the
regions round the Caspian and Persian Gulf is the exact
opposite of the usually fine climate of the Plateau, where
the exhilarating air is of such marvellous dryness and
purity that objects can be seen at an almost incredible
distance. The extremes of heat and cold, however,
are very great on these uplands ; there are always
heavy falls of snow during the winter in the northern
provinces, and though the sun may be powerful during
the day, yet the thermometer falls to 15° or 20°
at night.

In the summer the heat is often intense, and all who
can do so migrate to the hills to escape it, the hot,
dry winds being very trying. Sun apoplexy is not un-
common at this season, a " touch of the sun " giving
fever to European and native alike, and it is dangerous
to indulge in alcohol during the heat of the day.

Violent sandstorms are frequent in the spring in the
" desert " provinces, and hailstorms in which the stones
are large as marbles and deal destruction to fruit-
trees and crops occur at the same season in the north.
To give an idea of the changes of temperature, a
traveller in the course of one day's march may leave
' " Zoology of Eastern Persia."

4 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

a frost-bound country and descend into a region of
feathery palms, where he will find the atmosphere
almost stifling. As to the rainfall, it has been com-
puted that fifty inches fall annually at Resht on the
Caspian, in contrast to the five or six inches in central
and south-east Persia. The great bulk of the country
is scantily watered, the rivers being few and small,
and the lakes all salt ; therefore most of the culti-
vation has to be carried on by means of irrigation,
the mountain-streams being conveyed to the towns in
subterranean aqueducts. Some of these are twenty
miles in length, and occasionally are tunnelled at a
great depth below the surface, needing constant care to
prevent the endless passages getting choked up with
earth.

A Frenchman once said that Persia was nothing but
a desert, which was sometimes composed of sand and at
others of salt, and the traveller will own that the
description is not far wrong when he notices the sterility
of the kingdom of the Shah. In passing through the
country he will get an impression of great barren plains
sprinkled with the debris from the equally bare, but
often brilliantly coloured mountain ranges that divide
them. Not a tree, a shrub, or a blade of grass is to be
seen, and only camel-thorn and veitch are sparsely
dotted about on the arid ground. The monotony is
broken at intervals in the spring by the green of the
young crops round a town or village, but the sunken
fields on which the wheat and barley are sown have
no hedges, only low mud banks for the purposes of
irrigation. Were it not for the crops, the scenery would
be coloured in tones of ochre, burnt sienna, and neutral
tint, and it is indescribably dreary and monotonous on

SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA 5

the rare days when the sun is hidden. But when the
heaven of intense turquoise blue vibrates with sunlight,
everything is beautified, and most travellers succumb
to the weird fascination of the landscape.

From what has gone before, the reader will understand
that there must be great differences in the climate and
vegetation of the thirty-three provinces into which the
kingdom is divided.

Those round the Caspian grow rice, and have great
forests, an exuberant vegetation, and numberless streams
fed by the constant rain.

To the north-west and west in Azerbaijan, Luristan
and the Bakhtiari country, is a region of mountains
which may be called the Highlands of Persia, and
which is visited by winters of great severity, and to the
south of the latter district is Arabistan, a province
where the dry heat in summer reaches over 120°
indoors, and where enormous quantities of wheat could
be grown with the necessary irrigation.

Along the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea the low-
lying country has an almost intolerable damp heat
during the greater part of the year, but is arid in the
extreme, not being visited by the heavy rainfall of the
Caspian provinces. Here dates are the staple food and
chief product of the country, and Laristan, Makran, and
Baluchistan are peopled by Arab tribes on the coast
and by Baluchis inland.

North of this region is the small eastern province of
Sistan, interesting to Persians as being the home of
their great hero Rustum, and to geographers from its
physical conformation. As Lord Curzon writes : ^
". . . not only do the lakes alternately swell, recede
' " Persia."

6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and disappear — the idea of displacement covering an
extent, according to Rawlinson, of one hundred miles
in length by fifty miles in width — but the rivers also
are constantly shifting their beds, sometimes taking a
sudden fancy for what has hitherto been an artificial
channel, but which they soon succeed in converting into
a very good imitation of a natural channel, in order to
perplex some geographer of the future. It is not
surprising, therefore, that while the country owes to the
abundant alluvium thus promiscuously showered upon
it its store of wealth and fertility, it also contains more
ruined cities and habitations than are perhaps to be
found within a similar space of ground anywhere in the
world."

The dry heat during the summer reaches 121°, and
the insect pests that breed in the great Hamun, or
Lagoon, into which the river Helmand empties itself,
make life a burden. Fortunately, however, Sistan is
visited late in May or early in June by the beneficent
bad-i-sud-i-bist ruz (wind of a hundred and twenty
days), that tempers the heat and drives away the
mosquitoes and sand-flies. It has been registered to
blow at the rate of seventy-two miles an hour, making
the climate bearable and not unhealthy, though the
natives suffer a good deal from malaria.

A glance at the map will show an enormous space
marked Lut, or Desert, supposed to have been formerly
a dried-up inland sea, occupying the centre of the
country, and severing the north from the south and
the east from the west of Persia, thus doing much to
interrupt free communication. Half the large province
of Khorasan in the north-east is Sahara, and such big
towns as Kum and Kashan lie on the edge of the

SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA 7

glittering Kavir, or salt desert, through which runs
a river of brine ; at Yezd, the sandy hummocks of the
waterless Lut are almost up to the walls of the city,
reminding the traveller of the prophecy that the town
is to be overwhelmed by the sand at some future date,
and Kerman, two hundred miles further south-east, is only
separated by a small cultivated area from this dreary
waste that has to be skirted when proceeding south-
wards into Baluchistan. It may easily be grasped what
a tremendous obstacle to intercourse is this great desert,
and it is partly owing to its presence that the large
towns are more or less isolated, and that the inhabitants
centre their interests in their particular cities and not
in the country as a whole. In fact, so bad are the
communications and so costly is the transport, that
if there happen to be a famine in one district, the
population must starve, though in other parts of the
country there might be bumper crops.

Perhaps what chiefly strikes the European is the
poverty everywhere apparent. He will have read
accounts of the splendour in which the Achsemenian
and Sasanian monarchs lived, and traditions of the
Golden Age of Shah Abbas are still extant, and he
will wonder whether Persia could possibly have looked
so hopelessly "out at elbows" as it does to-day.
It could never have been a rich kingdom, and its
monarchs drew a great part of their revenue from far
more fertile provinces that owned their sway ; but still,
wherever the traveller may go, he will find ruins of
villages long deserted, towns surrounded by quarters
once inhabited and now falling into decay ; even in the
Lut there are remains of cultivation showing that the
oases were far more frequent than they are at present,

8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and in barren Baluchistan he will observe how the hills
are terraced in many parts, the uncivilised inhabitants,
who make no use of these long-ago labours, putting
them down to the work of " infidels." Many writers
consider that the terrible Mongol invasion was a blow
from which Persia has never recovered ; but good
government could still do much for a country in which
the desert literally "blossoms like the rose" if it be
irrigated.

Under the system of the Shahs, in which every one in
power " squeezes " to his utmost every one below him,
there is no protection for property and no encourage-
ment given to enterprise. Thus the country grows
steadily poorer as the years pass by, though the prices
of food are always on the increase, as the following
table will show : —

Cost of Living at Tehr

AN IN 1880 AND l>

900.^

1880

1900

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

Bread per man (6^ lbs.)

... 0 0 3|

0 0 9|

Mutton „ ,

... 0 I 2f

029!

Cheese „ „

016

0 2 4|

Milk „

... 0 0 4i

0 0 9I

Eggs per hundred

016

0 3 7i

The writer who remembered that eggs were ten a
penny at Kerman a dozen years ago, found that only
three to four were to be purchased for the same sum at
Meshed in 1909, and the old days when meat and bread
were under a penny a pound and a chicken could be
obtained for twopence and a diminutive lamb for four-
pence halfpenny, were gone for good.

' " Statesman's Year-Book, 1909."

SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA 9

So barren is Persia at the present day that the
uncultivated land surrounding any city looks like a
desert, and the ruthless cutting down of the forests
through the centuries has done much to decrease
the naturally scanty rainfall. Coal being only found
near the capital, wood is used everywhere for burning
in the form of charcoal, and if no new plantations are
laid out Persia's most thickly wooded districts will, in
time, become as denuded of trees as is the central
Plateau, In fact so expensive is wood in many parts,
that much of the heating and cooking are done by
means of the boussa, or camel-thorn, donkeys bringing
it daily into the towns.

In this large country, treble the area of France, there
are only six miles of railway. Of roads, in the Euro-
pean sense of the word, there are only four, their total
length, when added together, being about 780 miles ;
and these owe their existence to European enterprise.
Practically everything is carried on the backs of camels
and mules along the rough and often dangerous tracks
made by the caravans during many centuries. There is
only one navigable river, the Karun, which flows into
the head of the Persian Gulf, and on this latter sea the
ports are open roadsteads at which it is impossible to
land cargo during stormy weather, only the port of
Enzeli on the Caspian being important.

Persia has merely single-wire telegraph lines, the
rickety poplar poles of which are often seen lying on
the ground, in which case the Persian official at the
nearest station will calmly remark that the line "does
not speak to-day." In great contrast to this is the
British three-wire line, supported on iron posts, which
runs from the Persian frontier on the north-west down

lo PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

to Bushire on the Persian Gulf, from which point
messages to India are carried by cable to Bombay, and
this line now has a branch from Kashan to Karachi via
British Baluchistan in order to ensure a direct overland
connection with our Indian Empire.

Owing to the lack of communications very little is
done to tap the resources of the country. For example,
Persia possesses many minerals, but as she has no rail-
ways, roads, or navigable rivers to carry them to the
ports or to markets, this source of wealth is almost
untouched. The famous turquoise mines near Nishapur,
which have been known from very early times, produce
the only precious stones which have been found in the
kingdom, and are most inadequately worked, and the
valuable Caspian fisheries are leased to a Russian
company, most of the sturgeon or salmon caught in
abundance finding their way to Russia.

For many years the imports of Persia have exceeded
the exports, and this is partly owing to the slow and
expensive methods of carriage, and still more to a
short-sighted Government that puts obstacles in the
way of enterprise and is suspicious of any man who
becomes rich and does not conceal the fact. There
is never any question of the Shah subsidising any
private undertaking, and merchants and traders con-
sider the " powers that be " as real benefactors if they
will only leave their subjects to pursue their avocations
without let or hindrance.

Sterile as Iran appears to be, yet an able ruler might
do great things for his country, and the Englishman
cannot but long for a man of the type of Lord Cromer
to be allowed a free hand in remodelling the adminis-
tration of the kingdom.

SOME DESCRIPTION OF PERSIA ii

Like ourselves the Persians are of Aryan stock, and
have the same words for father, mother, brother, and
daughter {J)idar, madar^ bradar, and diikhtar^ ; more-
over, the construction of their language is like English.
A mass of Arabic words is, however, incorporated in it,
for when Islam was forced upon Persia, at the point
of the sword, the converts had to recite their prayers
three times daily in Arabic, and read the Koran in
that language, no Persian translation of the sacred
book being permitted until of late years, when the
innovation met with strenuous opposition from the
priesthood.

In appearance the true Irani is a handsome, well-built
man with regular features and fine, dark eyes, his com-
plexion resembling that of an Italian or Spaniard. P)Ut
it must not be forgotten that Persia has been invaded
again and again by the Central Asian tribes, and there-
fore the inhabitant of Shiraz, gay and extravagant,
nervous and excitable, a lover of poetry and horses, and
who claims to be of pure Persian stock, is very different
to the semi-Turkish population of the north-west or
to the natives of Khorasan. These latter show traces
of Mongol and Usbeg blood in their broad, flat faces,
high cheek-bones, and in manners that are brusque and
boorish in comparison with the refinement and polish
of a Shirazi.

Again the Persian Gulf is bordered by Arab tribes,
and throughout the whole country roam a shifting
nomad population, the Iliats, who drive their flocks and
herds up into the hills during the spring and summer
months, and who probably enjoy a pleasanter existence
than any one else in Iran. Certainly they have to pay
taxes on their flocks and herds, but they are in nowise

12 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

" ground down " as are the villagers in many parts,
and their sturdy women are usually adorned with
plenty of jewellery and look the picture of health,
in pleasant contrast to the often sickly townswomen.

CHAPTER II

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF
PERSIA

THE beginnings of Persian history are wrapped
in legend, but probably about B.C. 700 the
Medes, an Iranian race dwelling in what is now North-
West Persia, threw off the yoke of Assyria. They left
no record of their achievements, but we know from
other sources that one of their kings was such a mighty
warrior that he led his armies into Europe. Side by
side with the Medes lived the Persians, also an Iranian
race, and in B.C. 550 Cyrus, the Persian of the Achas-
menian line, conquered Astyages, the Median king,
and the empire passed from the West Iranian Medes
to South Iranian Persians, the two countries being
united under the name of Persia. During the rule of
the Medes, Zoroaster, a native of Media, started the
creed of the Fire Worshippers, his first success being
the conversion of the King of Bactria to the new
doctrines which spread rapidly, and though probably
receiving a check at the time of the Persian conquest,
yet they speedily became the established religion of
the country under the Achasmenian dynasty.

Cyrus, when he had strengthened his position at
home, led his armies into Asia Minor, conquering and

14 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

taking captive Crcesus, King of Lydia, a man famous
in classic story for his wealth and misfortunes, and
annexing all the Greek colonies lying in those regions.
But his greatest exploit was the capture of Babylon,
a city deemed to be impregnable, of immense wealth,
and boasting a civilisation far higher than that possessed
by the Persians. With the downfall of this capital,
Cyrus became master of Assyria, and his conquest
contributed to raise Persia to the chief position in
Asia. It is interesting that this monarch is mentioned
in Isaiah by the words, "He is my shepherd, and
shall perform all my pleasure." ^ According to a legend,
Cyrus retired to a fountain in Azerbaijan, where he
disappeared for ever from the sight of men, but in
reality he died in battle against the Turanians or
Tartars, and Cambyses (B.C. 529-522) succeeded him
on the throne of Iran.

Although the new monarch increased the Persian
Empire by the conquest of Egypt, yet he was without
his father's ability and was cruel to boot, causing his
brother Smerdis to be put to death secretly on suspicion
of conspiring against him, and when he himself died
by an accident there was no heir to the imperial crown.
However, one of the Magi, or priests, strikingly Hke
the murdered Smerdis, impersonated him, and ruled
for a whole year before his imposture was discovered,
when he was overthrown by the chief nobles of Persia,
one of whom, under the title of Darius I., was raised to
the vacant throne.

And now again Persia had a monarch worthy to
stand in the place of Cyrus, for Darius (B.C. 521-485) was
a leader of men, a great general and a skilful ruler. He
' Isaiah xliv. 28.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 15

enlarged the borders of Persia eastward as far as the
Indus ; tried to force his way northwards into Russia —
but here the elements obliged him to retreat — and then
he turned his attention westwards, meeting at the hands
of the Greeks the great reverse of his reign. The Persian
army, mustering some fifty thousand men, all accustomed
to war, and having hardly ever tasted defeat, was utterly
routed on the plains of Marathon by the patriotism
and enthusiasm of the Greeks, who could only produce
a force one-fifth of the size of the Persian host, which
was compelled to return ignominiously to iVsia.

If one of the greatest monarchs that ever ruled Persia
were powerless against the Greeks, it may hardly be
expected that Xerxes (B.C. 485-465), who succeeded
Darius, and was a man of ordinary ability, should do
better than his father. However, he determined to under-
take the adventure which has made his name notorious,
and collected the largest army that had ever been
known, to conquer the little people to whose genius
the world owes so much. Every schoolboy knows
what followed — the heroic defence of the pass of
Thermopylae by Leonidas and his immortal Three
Hundred ; the naval battles off Artemisium ; the
abandonment of Athens to be burnt by the invaders,
and the last stand of the Greeks at Salamis, hazarding
their all upon a single battle which resulted in a crush-
ing defeat for the Persians, and which, when followed
by the Greek victory of Plataea, settled for centuries the
question as to whether Asia should conquer Europe.

On the death of Xerxes the kingdom fell into
the hands of incompetent rulers ; Egypt was lost after
being held by Persia for over a century, and disorder
and anarchy were rife. Artaxerxes III. found a hard

i6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

task on his accession, but being a man of exceptional
ability he almost succeeded in restoring Iran to her
former greatness, and would probably have done so
had he not been murdered in the full tide of his
activities.

Up to now the Persian arms had been carried into
Europe, but with Darius III. (B.C. 336-329) enthroned
at Persepolis things were reversed, and Alexander
the Macedonian, one of the greatest generals the
world has ever seen, led his soldiers into Asia. The
Persian troops, splendid fighters if well led, being now
under a monarch both cowardly and incompetent, were
beaten at Issus and routed at Arbela. After this
battle the Persian Empire fell into the hands of the
conqueror, and with. the assassination of the fugitive
Darius in B.C. 329, the Achsemenian dynasty, established
over two centuries before by Cyrus the Great, came
to an end.

And now Alexander had before him the task of
pacifying the empire that he had subdued, this being
the more necessary as his ardent spirit longed to
proceed to the conquest of India, though his knowledge
of war taught him the danger of leaving a country at
enmity with him in his rear.

He set about his work in two ways — first by mixing
Persian soldiers with his own regiments, and secondly
by commanding his legionaries to marry the women
of the country, he himself wedding Roxana, the
daughter of a Bactrian prince, and later on, Statira,
grand-daughter of Artaxerxes III. When this was
done he marched into India, but to his bitter dis-
appointment he was forced by his war-worn veterans
to turn back before the Ganges was reached. The great

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 17

conqueror then retraced his steps to Babylon, which
he made his capital, and busied himself with getting
his empire into order before his early death, leaving the
satrapies, or governments into which Cyrus had divided
the realm, much as they were.

In B.C. 323 Alexander died, and immediately there
arose fierce strife among his generals for the possession
of the empire, the emperor's son being but a child, and
from the Indus to the Nile there was civil war with
its accompaniments of misery and anarchy. The less
civilised Macedonians sought to lord it over the cul-
tured Greeks, who had formed no small part of
Alexander's conquering armies, and one result of this
struggle for the mastery was the terrible episode of
twenty-three thousand Greeks, being surprised and
slain by the Macedonians as they were marching back
to their native land. Out of all this discord the
General Seleucus, seizing upon Babylon and its province,
founded the dynasty of the Seleucidse, and the Greeks
in Bactria revolted and formed a state in the heart
of Asia, this kingdom lasting for a century, and even
carrying its arms into India.

And now we must enter upon a new period of
Persian history. About this time certain nomad tribes
inhabiting the steppes north of the river Atrek left
their native country and settled in Parthia, or what
is now known as Khorasan, a large province of
northern Persia, and these intruders founded the
Parthian dynasty.

They were great fighters and wonderful horsemen,
the expression " Parthian shot " being derived from
their custom of pretending to fly before an enemy in
confusion, and then turning in their saddles and shoot-

i8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE '

ing arrows at their pursuers, often defeating them
by this ruse. In B.C. 250 these nomads had acquired
so much territory that their chief ascended the throne
of Parthia with the title of Arsaces I., and for more
than four centuries he and his descendants ruled in
Persia, and again and again put to rout the armies
of Imperial Rome, the mistress of the western
world.

The Parthians, far inferior in civilisation to the
Persians, kept few records, the historian of these times
depending upon the coins they struck and the accounts
furnished by Greek and Roman writers.

Chief among their monarchs was Mithridates the
Great (B.C. 1 71-138) who broke the power of the Seleucid
dynasty, keeping its king a captive for the rest of his
days, conquered the kingdom of Armenia and extended
his realms from the Indus to the Euphrates. A signifi-
cant fact, showing the position to which the Parthians
had now attained, was the treaty of peace which they
entered into with Rome, the first of many meetings
between these two great Powers.

In B.C. 54 Orodes being King of Parthia, Crassus, who
was triumvir in conjunction with Caesar and Pompey,
thought that the time was favourable for an attack on
the Parthians, whom he imagined would prove an
easy conquest. The Roman legions met their foes at
Carrhae on the Euphrates, and the Parthians displayed
their usual tactics, on this occasion concealing the main
body of their army. Their cavalry then charged,
made a feint of fleeing, and was hotly pursued by
the Romans into the very jaws of the hidden troops
that suddenly surrounded and cut them up. Then the
Parthians attacked the infantry, forced the main body

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 19

of the army to surrender, and slew Crassus, thus
inflicting the greatest defeat that the Romans had
suffered since the time of Hannibal.

Orodes throughout the rest of his reign brought his
country to a high pitch of power, and was the first
Parthian monarch who took the proud Achaemenian
title of King of Kings.

He was, however, murdered by his son Phraates, who,
having mounted the throne, made Ctesiphon on the
Tigris his capital. This city was the seat of Govern-
ment until the Mohammedan conquest, the Sasanian
dynasty building a magnificent palace there in which
they dwelt in almost fabulous luxury.

In B.C. 33 Mark Antony, being eager to avenge the
death of Crassus, and determined to add fresh lustre to
his reputation, led a large army to the invasion of
Parthia, taking the country altogether by surprise.
However, he fared hardly better than his predecessor,
and so vigorous was the opposition he encountered that
he was obliged to retreat into Armenia, only reaching
that country after the loss of thirty thousand of his
troops.

This experience made Rome leave Parthia in peace
for over a century, and it is a remarkable fact that the
Parthian and Persian races were the only ones that
forced the Romans, masters of more than half the
known world, to check their advance.

But the fear that Parthia inspired brought about her
undoing, for with no Roman peril to unite her people
and keep her armies in a state of readiness, she fell into
civil war, king after king leaving only records of blood-
shed and discord behind him. In A.D. 63 we see a
Parthian monarch on friendly terms with the Roman

20 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Emperor Vespasian ; later on Trajan attempted to
invade the kingdom, but even in its weakness he could
make no conquest and was obliged to retire, and though
Cassius managed to destroy Seleucia, the capital of
Babylonia, yet neither he nor any invader could pene-
trate to the heart of the empire.

The last of the Parthian line was Artabanus, a man
of such ability that he was almost able to restore his
empire now fallen asunder through intrigue, corruption,
and civil war. The Roman Emperor Macrinus,
probably thinking that Parthia would fall an easy .prey
to his arms, attempted an invasion, but his armies
suffered two such crushing defeats that he was forced
to sue for peace, which he purchased by paying the
huge indemnity for those days of fifty million denarii,
or, roughly, about ;^ 1,800,000.

But even this tremendous victory for Parthia could
not save her from her doom. It was nearly six hundred
years since Alexander had subdued the last of the
Achaemenian monarchs, and during all those centuries
Persia proper remained merely as a province of a Greco-
Persian or of a Parthian Empire, and it might have
been thought that the Persians had become too insepar-
ably welded with their conquerors to think again of
independence. However, a quick-witted, intellectual race,
with a great past behind it of which it is justly proud,
and a great capacity for fighting if well led, cannot
submit tamely to be under a nation whom it considers
its inferior in civilisation and mental ability. Moreover,
there was a cleavage between Parthians and Persians
on religious grounds, the former having fallen away
from Zoroastrianism and taken to idol-worship, while
the latter clung to the teachings of their great Prophet.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 21

The restoration of Persia to her ancient position was
the work of Ardeshir, satrap of the province of Persis,
and supposed to be descended from the old Achaeme-
nian dynasty through his ancestor Sasan. He revolted
and proclaimed the independence of Persis, speedily
annexed what is now the province of Kerman, and
defeated Artabanus in three pitched battles, in the last
of which the Parthian monarch was slain, and the
Sasanian dynasty (a.D. 226-652) that was to carry Persia
to one of the highest positions among the nations, now
commenced. Ardeshir was soon involved in a war
with the old enemy Rome, but he forced the legions of
Alexander Severus to fly, and having subdued Armenia,
which still held out for Parthia, he found himself in a
position equal in power to the Achaemenian or Parthian
dynasties at their prime.

One of his first acts was the destruction of the
Parthian idols and the restoration of the religion taught
by Zoroaster, The entire copies of the Avesta and
Gathas are believed to have been destroyed when
Alexander burnt one of the palaces of Persepolis, but
as many fragments as possible were collected, and one
of the Magi, chosen by lot, translated the Zoroastrian
scriptures from the archaic Median into Pahlavi, the
spoken language of the day, and wrote them down.
From this time the influence of the Magi became
paramount, all other religions were persecuted, and still
further to honour the state-religion Ardeshir stamped
his coinage with a fire-altar and priests.

He was succeeded by his son Shapur I. (240-273), a
great soldier and administrator, who is principally
remembered for the crushing defeat he inflicted on the
Romans. The Emperor Valerian and his entire army

22 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

were forced to surrender to the Persians, who kept
the monarch in captivity until his death, and who
commemorated their great victory in two rock-sculp-
tures.

To Shapur belongs the honour of commencing the
famous irrigation dam at Shuster, which is still perfect
and allows the waters of the Karun river to irrigate the
fertile plain, thus conferring prosperity on thousands.
During his reign the Nestorian Christians made many
converts, and the remarkable teacher Mani founded a
new religion, which, though hated equally by Christian
and Zoroastrian, had much influence : in spite of
the cruel death of its founder, there were actually
Manichaeans until the thirteenth century, when the
hapless Albigenses, followers of his doctrine, were ex-
terminated in France.

After the reign of Shapur I. a series of incapable
kings sat on the throne, and Shapur II. succeeded to
an empire convulsed with insurrection within its borders
and invasion from without, but, mere boy as he was,
he had the gift of kingship, and Persia again grew great
under his sway. The intermittent war with Rome was
renewed in his reign, and, as usual, the Romans were
defeated, on this occasion their Emperor Julian being
slain and his successor having to patch up a disgraceful
peace, to secure the retreat of his army from Persian
soil. The Roman legionaries were the finest soldiers
ever known, and were practically invincible in Europe,
yet Persia, whether under a Parthian or a Sasanian
dynasty, hurled them again and again from her borders,
showing of what her sons were capable. Rome sent
her best generals and her chosen veterans to the con-
quest of Iran, but the only result, during several cen-

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 23

turies of warfare, was defeat, the surrender of whole
armies, and either the death or captivity of their
generals.

Shapur II, was succeeded by inefficient monarchs,
and the kingdom was rent with intrigue and corruption,
though Bahram V., called by Persians Bahram Gor,
from his fondness for hunting the fleet wild ass, became
a popular hero on account of his success in checking
the advance of a great horde of nomads, who were
pouring into Persia from the north-east.

Bahram, who had been brought up in youth among
the Arabs, was a celebrated shot with the bow, and
the Persians have a tradition that one day he actually
nailed an antelope's hoof to its ear, as the animal was
scratching its head. On turning to his favourite wife
for applause, he was so greatly disgusted at her cool
observation, " Practice makes perfect," that he sent her
into banishment. Some years after, when on a hunting
expedition, he was amazed at seeing a woman carry a
full-grown cow up a flight of twenty steps, and asking
her for an explanation of this extraordinary feat of
strength, she remarked, " Practice makes perfect,"
and raising her veil revealed the features of his
exiled wife, whom the monarch promptly restored to
favour.

Kobad, a later king, is chiefly notable for his victories
over the Romans led by Belisarius, one of the most
famous of their generals, and during the following reign
the Roman Emperor was actually forced to pay tribute
to the Sasanian monarch.

This king, Khosru I. (531-579), raised Persia to a
great height of power. He was equally capable as a
warrior and as a lawgiver, had a love of knowledge,

24 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

was tolerant to all creeds, founded a school of medicine,
remodelled his army, the system of taxation, and re-
paired the roads and tridges throughout the country,
completing the famous dyke at Shuster, that Shapur
I. had commenced. He also erected a magnificent
palace at his capital, Ctesiphon — the remains of which
give some idea of its former grandeur — and when he
died after a reign of forty-eight years, he was greatly
mourned, and has gone down to posterity with the title
of the Just.

The poet Saadi relates the following anecdote
of this monarch : " When some venison was being
cooked for Nushirvan the Just during a hunting-party,
the royal servants found that they had forgotten the
salt, and accordingly sent a lad to get some from the
nearest village. The king commanded that the salt
should be paid for, lest the village be ruined. His
courtiers asked him how such a trivial demand as a
handful of salt could possibly bring a village to desola-
tion, and Nushirvan answered, 'When oppression began
in the world it was a very small thing, but every one
has increased it, so that at the present day it is of vast
extent.'" And Saadi amplifies the sentence by re-
markinsf :

"If the king eats a single apple from a subject's orchard
His slaves pull up the tree by its roots.
For five eggs that a king permits to be seized
His soldiers will snatch a thousand fowls for their spits."

And these remarks are as true of the Persia of this
generation as they were in the time of the great
Khosru.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 25

The decline of the Sasanian Empire began after the
death of this monarch, although his grandson obtained
the proud title of Khosru Parvis (590-628), or the
Conqueror, in recognition of his military successes.

For a part of his reign he did much for the art of
his country, fostered law and order and kept Persia
powerful and feared by her neighbours. There are
many traditions about his devotion to his favourite wife,
the fair Shirin, a Christian, who kept her ascendancy
over her husband during her whole lifetime, a remark-
able fact in Oriental history. A favourite legend has
it that the architect Ferhad fell desperately in love
with the beautiful queen, and that Khosru, in jest,
promised to yield up his wife if the youth could bore
through the huge rock of Besitun and bring a stream
by way of the tunnel. This was an apparently im-
possible task, but Ferhad, nerved by love, so nearly
succeeded, that the monarch in dismay sent a messenger
to tell him that Shirin was dead, and the story relates
that, on receiving the news, the architect fell headlong
from the great rock and was dashed to pieces at its
foot.

In the early part of his reign Khosru Parvis was
deposed by his rebellious general, Bahram Chubin, and
he had to seek the aid of the Romans before he could
recover his kingdom, which, after this interlude, he ruled
for thirty-seven years.

During this period he took Jerusalem and carried off
the supposed True Cross, presenting the relic to Shirin,
and in his reign, after the lapse of nine centuries,
the Persians were again masters of Egypt. Not con-
tent with this they fought unweariedly against the
hereditary enemy Rome until the realms in Asia and

26 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

East Africa, over which the Mistress of the West had
held sway for centuries, were entirely wrested from her.
No wonder that Khosru gained his title of "Conqueror,"
for at no period of her history had Persia ruled over a
larger empire and never had she reached a higher pitch
of civilisation, the splendour in which her emperor
dwelt recalling the fancies of a fairy-tale. During the
full tide of his prosperity a message was brought to
him one day from Mecca, bidding him acknowledge a
certain Mohammed as the Prophet of God. Not un-
naturally the king treated the missive with contempt,
little thinking that before many years had passed the
followers of the writer of that letter would have swept
away the proud Sasanian line. Sir Clements Mark-
ham I points out that Fortune from that day averted
her face from the man, who was at one time the
most powerful monarch in the known world.

In A.D. 617 his soldiers were within a mile of
Constantinople, and if the capital of the Roman
Empire had been taken, Europe would have lain at
the feet of the victorious Persians. The Emperor
Heraclius had made arrangements for escaping from
the apparently doomed city, but his subjects forced him
to remain, and his despair awoke in him an unsuspected
military ability. With troops inferior in numbers to
those of the Persians, he defeated them again and again,
wresting from them all the provinces that they had
conquered, and the Persian king, in spite of every
effort, suffered nothing but reverses, and finally was
killed by his nobles who were headed by his own
son Siroes.

In the whole annals of history there is perhaps no
' " History of Persia."

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 27

character who rose to such heights of power, brought
his country to such a pitch of prosperity, and then
perished so miserably, through, it appears, no fault of
his own, though some authorities say he became
enervated by luxury and excess. At his death eleven
rulers succeeded one another to the vacant throne, two
queens among the number — the first women who had
ever held the sceptre in Persia — but their united reigns
only amounted to five years.

And all this time the Empire, torn by dissension,
bloodshed, and anarchy, was tottering to its fall, and
Yazdigird III. succeeded to an inheritance threatened
by a foe who would exterminate both the dynasty of
Sasan and the ancient religion of Zoroaster.

The Arabs had engaged in battle with the Persians
in the time of Khosru Parvis, and though the result was
indecisive, yet they had learnt the important fact that
the warriors of Iran were not invincible. Since then
success and fanaticism had made the followers of the
Prophet far stronger, and they met the forces of young
Yazdigird on the plain of el-Kadinyyah A.D. 636. At
this historic battle the Arabs utterly defeated the
Persians and gained possession of their national
standard, the blacksmith Kavah's leather apron, which
had led the Persians into battle for a thousand years,
since the days when the legendary Feridun had
delivered his country from the tyranny of King Zohak,
typifying, according to some writers, Persia's revolt
from the Assyrian dominion.

The Arabs found Persia, even in her decay, no
easy conquest, and they met with a stout re-
sistance, the gallant Yazdigird keeping up the
struggle for some ten years after the fatal battle of

28 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Nehavend, that left the Moslems masters of the
country. The last Sasanian monarch was murdered
by a miller near Merv as he fled from his foes, and
with his death ended the great dynasty under which
Persia had been carried to a height of power and
prosperity only equalled under the rule of the first
Darius.

The wild Arabs gave their new subjects the choice
between accepting the Koran or death, and it seems
an irony of Fate that the followers of the pure religion
of Zoroaster should have been forcibly " converted "
by a race that had only just turned from the
grossest idolatry, and that was on a far lower plane
of civilisation than the Persians. Zoroastrianism was
almost stamped out of the kingdom, a few adherents
lingering on in such out-of-the-way towns as Yezd
and Kerman, where at the present day they are
stigmatised as Gabrs^ or infidels, but live practically
unmolested.

And now followed eight centuries of Persia as a
subject kingdom, torn by wars and invasions, ruled by
dynasty after dynasty of aliens, and laid desolate by
the terrible Mongol hordes of Chinghiz Khan, or the
Tartars of Timur. And yet, though her independence
was crushed, Persia refined and civilised her rough
conquerors, who assimilated her beautiful arts, carrying
them into all the countries which they conquered,
and where now they go by the name of Saracenic.
At the Court of the Khalifs at Baghdad, Persian
customs, music, and even dress were the fashion ;
and the son of the famous Harun al Raschid revived
the national Persian festival of No Ruz (New Year's
Day).

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 29

Firdawsi, the Homer of Persia, composed his great
patriotic epic the " Book of Kings " about 1000 A.D. ;
Avicenna, the famous philosopher and doctor, was his
contemporary ; and Omar Khayyam, the astronomer-
poet, flourished later — to give but a few names out of a
great revival of Persian thought and literature that
took place, and which centred in such cities as Tus,
Nishapur, Bokhara, Merv, and Herat.

During these centuries, as the power of the Khalifate
at Baghdad grew weaker, various dynasties rose and
fell in Persia. We hear of the Saffari line — the name
taken from the occupation of its founder, a brazier of
Sistan ; also of the Samanian dynasty whose founder,
descended from the old Persian nobility, seized the
north of Persia and made Bokhara his capital, and did
his utmost to foster Persian literature, reviving the
national spirit that had been kept in check during the
two centuries since the Arab conquest. Later on
Togrul, the Seljuk, led his hordes of Turks into Persia
and founded a dynasty which produced two brilliant
kings, Alp Arslan and his son Malik-Shah, who ruled
well, and encouraged science and literature, and had
for Prime Minister the famous Nizam-ul-Mulk who
administered their domains with the utmost wisdom
and beneficence.

As was usual, these kings were succeeded by
monarchs of little capacity, and their empire soon fell
a prey to small princes who carved out petty kingdoms
for themselves.

In the thirteenth century Persia was invaded by the
Mongols, and it is believed that she has never recovered
from that awful visitation. Chinghiz Khan, the leader
of these savage hordes, boasted that he had slain

30 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

thirteen millions of his fellow-creatures, and making
every allowance for exaggeration, it can be understood
that such a tiger in human form athirst for blood,
and with the power of gratifying his lust to the full,
could inflict untold misery on the world. His heathen
hordes massacred men, women, and children in cold
blood. They gave no quarter if they took a town,
history relating that they slew thirty thousand of the
inhabitants of Bokhara. They razed any fine building
to the ground, and did their best to turn fertile lands
into a desert. The enfeebled Khalifate at Baghdad fell
before their onslaught, and the last Khalif was put
to death by Hulagu Khan, grandson of Chinghiz.

Things improved for the Persians when Hulagu
Khan became a Mohammedan, and he and his successors
governed wisely, were tolerant to all religions, and
encouraged science and literature, these characteristics
being very remarkable in princes whose ancestors had
led a savage nomad life, remote from all culture.

The Mongol rulers were succeeded by Timur the
Lame, who overran Persia with his Tartars towards
the latter half of the fourteenth century, and Iran
became a province of his vast Asiatic Empire.

But a time of deliverance was approaching, and it is
interesting to note that after more than eight centuries
of bondage Persia obtained her freedom through the
very religion that overthrew it. In the early days of
Islam, the Mohammedans fought hotly as to who
should succeed the Prophet, and after awhile were
divided into two sects, Shiahs and Sunnis. The Shiahs
contended that upon the death of Mohammed, Ali
and his family were his lawful successors, and they
considered that the three Khalifs who succeeded the

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 31

Prophet were merely usurpers. After the terrible
massacre of nearly all the descendants of AH by the
rival faction, practically the whole Mohammedan world
became Sunni ; but the inhabitants of Persia were
fiercely Shiah, though usually governed by Sunni
rulers.

The deliverer of Persia arose in the person of Ismail,
ruler of the town of Ardebil and descended from both
AH and the Sasanian dynasty. The country flocked
to his standard, and in 1499 he was proclaimed founder
of the Sefavi dynasty, Persia from this date being an
independent kingdom, save for one brief interval. At
his death he left a powerful empire, which would
probably have gone to ruin if his three immediate
successors had not been followed by great Shah Abbas,
whose rule is always referred to by Persians as a
Golden Age.

This monarch, the contemporary of our Queen
Elizabeth and James I., was not only great as warrior
and administrator, but he fostered the Renaissance of
art which bloomed alike in Asia as in Europe at this
epoch. To this day Persians attribute every fine
building, road, or bridge to Shah Abbas, so lasting an
impression did this monarch make on his country,
and in the words of Chardin,' " When this prince ceased
to live, Persia ceased to prosper."

At his death the Sefavi dynasty produced a series of
inefficient monarchs, and in 1722 the Afghans invaded
the country and established themselves in the royal
city of Isfahan, only to be dislodged by the Persian
bandit afterwards Nadir Shah. This great soldier first
delivered Persia from her enemies, and then, usurping
* " Voyages en Perse."

32 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the crown, conquered Afghanistan and led his armies
into India, where he sacked Delhi, the famous capital of
the Moguls, and returned laden with almost fabulous
treasure.

He was assassinated before he could found a dynasty,
and at his death, in 1747, his vast empire fell into
anarchy: Khorasan apparently was the only province
of Persia left in the possession of Nadir's descendants,
the conqueror's blind grandson exercising a nominal
sovereignty at Meshed.

The Bakhtiari tribes, inhabiting the mountain ranges
in the south-west supported a scion of the Sefavi line,
who, with the aid of Kerim Khan, his able minister,
became master of Persia with the exception of Georgia
and Khorasan. Kerim Khan then deposed his puppet
sovereign, and became founder of the Zend dynasty,
taking Shiraz for his capital and ruling Persia with
wisdom and justice for twenty years. He kept in
subjection the powerful Kajar tribes that had Astra-
bad on the Caspian as their headquarters and were
of Turkish origin. At his death, however, Agha
Mohammed Khan, the head of the Kajars, who had
been detained in an honourable captivity at Shiraz,
managed to escape, and put himself at the head of his
tribe to do battle for the possession of Persia. The last
of the Zend dynasty was the gallant Lutf Ali Khan,
and he had for Vizier the clever Haji Ibrahim, who had
administered the realm for the young prince's father.
Lutf Ali Khan was possessed of indomitable courage,
and had much capacity for war ; but he fell a victim to
the Kajar chieftain owing to the base treachery of Haji
Ibrahim, who intrigued against his sovereign, and
betrayed Shiraz into the hands of his enemies. Lutf

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 33

AH Khan was never greater than in danger and
adversity ; and though defeated again and again by his
powerful opponent, yet he fought on undauntedly and
made his final stand at Kerman. Here again treachery
overcame one of the most gallant rulers of history,
secret foes opening the gates of Kerman to Agha
Mohammed, who gave the city up to massacre, and it is
stated ordered twenty, and some say seventy thousand
pairs of human eyes to be given to him as a ransom
from the inhabitants.

The Zend prince cut his way through the Kajar
troops and took refuge at Bam, where again treachery
proved his undoing, for the Governor of that town
delivered up his guest to the Kajar conqueror who
put him to death in his twenty-sixth year.

And now Persia was ruled by an alien tribe of
Turkish origin, the members of whom are said to have
been unable to speak the language of Iran. Agha
Mohammed, the founder of the dynasty, took Tehran
for his capital in order to be in touch with the Caspian
provinces, which had always declared for the Kajars,
and he soon established himself firmly throughout the
country. Although his military genius is undisputed,
he appears to have been almost superhumanly cruel and
tyrannical. His nephew Fath AH Shah succeeded him ;
but as he looked upon Persia as a conquered country,
and was very avaricious, it may easily be understood
that he did little for the improvement of his realm.
Haji Ibrahim, who had betrayed the chivalrous Zend
prince, was the Vizier of this second Kajar Shah ; but
it is said that old Agha Mohammed had advised his
nephew to get rid of a servant who had acted so
treacherously to a former master. Therefore, when

34 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Fath AH Shah became jealous of his minister's great
influence, he caused him to be cruelly put to death and
seized his wealth. During this reign the Russians, who
had encroached upon Persia before, made war twice on
the country, the result of which was that Persia lost
provinces in the Caucasus and on the Caspian, and this
sea was converted into a Russian lake, upon which any
armed Persian vessel was forbidden.

It may be asked how it was that the Persians, who
had been so distinguished in the field, were now almost
contemptible fighters? This was partly owing to the
Kajar policy of breaking the power of the chiefs of the
nomad tribes, such as the Bakhtiari, Ilyat, and Lur, who
had hitherto led their own clansmen to battle and were
great fighting men. Moreover, owing to the misgovern-
ment of the Kajar rulers, their soldiers were usually ill-
paid, their wages being embezzled by their superior
officers, who gave the troops in their charge no proper
military training and kept them short of food and
clothing. This evil custom is, alas ! in force at the
present day.

When Fath Ali Shah died, after a reign of thirty-
seven years, he had lost much Persian territory and had
governed his country with the sole idea of getting as
much wealth out of her for his own personal advantage
as he could. His successor, Mohammed Shah was not
a particularly successful monarch, and the latter's son,
Nasr-ed-Din Shah, known as being the first Shah to
visit Europe, though well-meaning, was not a man of
commanding ability, and his efforts to introduce
Western civilisation into his country were often a
putting of new wine into old bottles. At the com-
mencement of his reign he had a most able minister.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 35

who did much for the welfare of Persia, but, as is often
the case in Oriental countries, the Shah grew jealous of
his Vizier's influence, and put him to death, following in
this the example of his father and great-grandfather
who thus treated their Prime Ministers. During the
early part of his reign, Nasr-ed-Din Shah tried to seize
Herat, and in consequence became involved in a war
with England, who took Bushire and engaged the
Persian army at the mouth of the Karun river, the
Shah's troops flying in a disgraceful confusion. After
this Persia signed a treaty in which she yielded to all
the demands of Great Britain, and since then the
boundaries of her empire have been delimitated.

After the Shah's first visit to Europe in 1874 he
instituted a regular postal service with the aid of
Austrians, the stamps being printed in Austria. He
also gave a concession to the Indo-European Tele-
graph Company, by means of which our direct com-
munication with India passes through Persia ; and
later allowed the Imperial Bank of Persia to be
founded under British management.

Military colleges at Tabriz and Tehran and a Poly-
technic School at the capital were some of the Shah's
schemes ; but the country as a whole was ill-governed.
The provinces were put up at a kind of auction at
No Ruz to the highest bidder ; the peasantry were
heavily taxed, and nothing done to improve the
internal communications.

Nasr-ed-Din's European journeys and the enormous
expenses of his great anderoon [hareem) made serious
inroads on the exchequer, and his successor, Muzaffer-
ed-Din, still further squandered the royal hoards in
Europe, so that when Mohammed Ali Shah succeeded

36 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

to the throne in 1907 he found a much-exhausted
treasury.

Nasr-ed-Din Shah was assassinated in 1896 by a
religious fanatic, said to be one of the remarkable sect
of Babis who had attempted his life during the early
part of his reign. The Shah was possessed of some
literary talent, and the diary of his experiences in
Europe was published on his return to Persia, and
is interesting to read. He was also a keen sports-
man and a good shot and rider, and, according to his
lights, did his best for his country.

His son, Muzaffer-ed-Din Shah, amiable but much
out of health, began his reign as an absolute monarch.
Ideas of progress and liberty were, however, rife in
Persia, the people having watched the birth of the
Russian Duma with interest ; and the sovereign, yield-
ing to the national desire, granted a Constitution to his
subjects in 1906,

Upon his death in February, 1907, his son, Moham-
med Ali Shah, ascended the throne of Persia, and at his
accession swore to uphold the Constitution. He did not,
however, appreciate the curtailing of his powers by the
National Assembly, or Majlis, and friction soon arose.
In the December of 1907 he made an unsuccessful
attempt to suppress it by force, and early in the
next year his life was threatened with a bomb. Sur-
rounded as he was by the Court camarilla, he could
not realise that the country had awakened to Western
ideas of progress, and in June, 1908, he took the
extreme step of bombarding the Persian Parliament
out of existence.

Upon this the important commercial city of Tabriz
flung off its allegiance to the Shah, turned out the

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY OF PERSIA 37

Royalist troops, and, under the leadership of the bandit
Sattar Khan, sustained a long siege.

Mohammed Ali's soldiers, sent to take the city,
deserted to the Nationalist party, and the monarch
was obliged to have recourse to the wild Kurdish
tribes. Tabriz, however, held out until the April of
1909, when the Russian troops raised the siege in
order to protect the lives of the Europeans in the
town.

Throughout the struggle between the Shah and his
subjects it was noticeable that the Persians proper did
little material service to the Nationalist cause, which
was largely supported by revolutionaries from the
Caucasus and by the fighting hill-tribes. Chief among
these lattfer were the Bakhtiari, who first took posses-
sion of the city of Isfahan and at last marched on
Tehran.

The Shah, who was strongly urged by both the
British and Russian representatives to restore the
Constitution, broke his solemn promises again and
again; and apparently entirely failed to grasp the
situation until it was too late.

The Sipahdar (Commander-in-Chief), who belongs to
the Royal Family, cast in his lot with the Nationalist
party, and threatened Tehran from the north ; while
the Sardar-i-Assad (brother of the chief of the
Bakhtiaris) led his warlike tribesmen up from the
south to invest the capital. Mohammed Ali, perhaps
warned by the fate of the ex-Sultan of Turkey, did
not await the result. He took refuge in the summer
quarters of the Russian Legation outside the city, and
by this step virtually abdicated.

On July 16, 1909, he was formally deposed by the

38 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

National Council, and his son, a boy of eleven, elected
Shah in his stead. The supreme power rested in the
hands of the Sipahdar and the Sardar-i-Assad, both
men being imbued with Western ideas. After con-
siderable haggling as to the allowance to be made
to the ex-Shah, and after much discussion on the
question of the Crown jewels, his Majesty finally
left the capital on September loth, and made his way
by leisurely stages to the Caspian. In future he is to
be the guest of the Russian Government, either at
Odessa or in the Crimea.

It is too soon to judge how the change from an
autocratic rule to that of a Constitutional Government
will work ; but owing to the agreement of 1907
between England and Russia, Persia has every chance
of working out her own salvation. Whatever may be
our opinion of the decadence of Persia at the present
day, surely an empire which took its rise some five
centuries before Christ, and is an independent kingdom
in the twentieth century after Christ, must hold within
it the elements of renewal ? That Persia may succeed
in her arduous task of regeneration is the earnest wish
of all Englishmen who take any interest in the country.

CHAPTER III
THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT

DURING the twenty-five centuries in which Persia
has been a kingdom, her rulers have fixed
their capitals at different points within the limits of
their empire. Ecbatana (meaning Treasure-house) was
one of the capitals of the Medes, and the summer
dwelling-place of the Achaemenian monarchs. This
city, with its wonderful palace, Deioces, is supposed by
many writers to have occupied the site of the modern
Hamadan, a town in north-west Persia. There are,
however, no monuments or ruins in the town, save a
battered stone lion ; and the small eminence called the
Musalla, on which formerly stood the citadel, would not
have afforded sufficient space for the great palace.
However, Hamadan clings to the idea that it occupies
the site of past glories, and it has a large colony of
Jews, who show the so-called tombs of Esther and
Mordecai to travellers.

Cyrus the Great built Pasargadse for his capital, the
ruins that still remain testifying to its former grandeur ;
but Darius and his successors selected Persepolis as a
site for their palaces. Shushan in Arabistan, where
Artaxerxes Longimanus, generally identified with the
magnificent Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther, held his

40

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Court, was inhabited in the winter by the Achaemenian
monarchs.

Alexander ruled from Babylon, and the Parthians
fixed their seat of government at Ctesiphon on the
Tigris, where the Sasanian potentate Khosru I. built a
splendid palace, an arch of which still stands.

Here these monarchs held their Court in almost
unbelievable luxury, calling themselves by such titles
as " King of Kings," " Lord of Lords," " Glorious
beyond all compare," or " A God among mortals." The
Shahs of to-day have borrowed many of these proud
epithets, which are now yet more baseless than they
were in earlier times. They testify to the belief in
"Divine Right of Kings," so firmly implanted in
the Persians that even now with ideas of liberty and
progress in the air the mass of the people hold
to it.

After the Mohammedan conquest, the Khalifs held
their Court at Baghdad, and Persia was a conquered
country, a mere appanage of the Khalifate and ruled
by aliens for eight hundred years, until at last the
Sefavean dynasty arose. Great Shah Abbas selected
Isfahan for his capital, and he and his successors im-
proved and beautified the city. Sir Anthony Sherley and
Chardin giving us accounts of its spendours. In 1722
it was sacked by the Afghans and never regained its
prosperity. Nadir Shah, who delivered it, preferring
Meshed as his place of residence, and the Zend
dynasty making Shiraz into their seat of government.
On the rise of the present Kajar dynasty, its founder,
Agha Mohammed Khan, took Tehran for his capital
in order to keep in touch with the Turkish tribe from
which he had sprung, and Tabriz in Azerbaijan, the old

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 41

capital of the kings of Armenia, became the home of
the Vali Ahd, or Crown Prince, during the lifetime of
the Shah, in order to prevent the intrigues that would
focus round the heir apparent did he live at the Court.

The traveller from Europe going to Tehran can
either caravan from Erzeroum vid Erivan and Tabriz,
or take steamer from Marseilles to Batoum on the
Black Sea, from which port a line runs through the
Caucasus past Tiflis to Baku on the Caspian. Here a
Russian packet-boat takes him in about thirty hours to
Enzeli, the port for Tehran ; but if the weather be
rough it will be impossible to land the passengers and
cargo in a small launch across the sand-bar that blocks
the mouth of the harbour. In such a case the packet
will return to Baku, and every one will be obliged to
start afresh from the city of petroleum. When the
traveller has landed in safety at Enzeli he will be
surprised at the appearance of the port of Persia's
capital, the Shah's pavilion, built like a pagoda, being the
only building of any pretensions, and the so-called hotel
giving a mild foretaste of the discomforts that will be
experienced later if the visitor is new to Oriental travel.
A great lagoon, teeming with fish and waterfowl, must
be crossed in a rickety native boat, after which the
craft will turn into a sluggish river, on the banks of
which snakes glide and tortoises crawl, and will deposit
the traveller at Pir-i-Bazaar (Bazaar of the Old
Woman). From here the Russians have engineered
a fairly good road right up to the capital, and it is
therefore possible to drive the two hundred odd
miles to, Tehran in thirty-six hours, with relays of
horses.

At a short distance Resht looks strangely like an

42 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

English village with its red-tiled roofs buried in trees ;
for Gilan is one of the wettest parts of Persia, and the
mud-built houses in use elsewhere would not stand
in situ for a week in this district on account of the
ncessant rain.

The " English " appearance of the town is still
further carried out by the green fields and the hedges
bordering the roads. But charming as the whole place
looks on a sunny day, the curse of malaria hangs over
it, and the experienced traveller doses himself with
quinine, and is not surprised that the inhabitants have
a sickly look when he sees the rice-fields in which men
and women work knee-deep in water and from which
rises a deadly miasma. The first part of his onward
journey lies through a vast forest with long, grassy
" rides " stretching away into the luxuriant vegetation,
this wooded belt being part of the great jungle which
reaches to Astrabad, and is in all some four hundred
miles in length. Here are to be found tigers, panthers,
boar, stags, and game of all kinds. But this is not Persia
proper, and the traveller will soon reach the spurs of
the Elburz range, which opposes a barrier between
the sea and the Plateau, the second part of his
journey consisting of a series of steep ascents and
sharp descents, as the road winds upwards, and below
him the river rushes impetuously along its bed. He
has now left the trees, the waterfalls, the masses of fern,
and the hampering mud behind him, and is in a sterile
country with mountains rising up on all sides and
barren of vegetation. The splendid colouring of the
forest will have given place to a landscape tinted in
shades of dun and ochre, but vaulted with a sky of the
intense blue of the turquoise, and laved by an air

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 43

very different to the moist heat of the rainy zone. It is
a keen, exhilarating air that courses like wine through
his veins and makes him impervious to the jolts and
jars of his carriage and his halts in rest-houses often
swarming with vermin, and where practically no food is
to be purchased.

The third part of his journey to the capital is across
the great Plateau of Persia, which rises to a height
of two thousand to six thousand feet, and stretches
some eight hundred miles from north to south, and
he will soon arrive at Kasvin, his first Persian town.
In spite of its imposing gateway and its, for Persia, up-
to-date hotel, the town has an air of desolation and
decay, owing to the ruined appearance of its monu-
ments. Not far from it is Alamut, the famous strong-
hold of Hasan-i-Sabbah, the Chief of the Assassins,
who took Kasvin, and whose successors were given the
title of " Old Man of the Mountain " by the Crusaders.
There is a legend ^ that Hasan-i-Sabbah was at
school with the poet Omar Khayyam, and the Nizam-
i-Mulk the great Vizier of the Seljuks, and that the
three comrades made a compact that the one who suc-
ceeded best in life should help the others. Therefore,
when the Nizam-ul-Mulk was at the height of his
power, his former school-fellows reminded him of his
promise, Omar receiving from him a yearly pension
and devoting himself to study, but Hasan-i-Sabbah
demanding a post at Court which he used to try and
compass the downfall of his benefactor. Being found
out he fled, joined the sect of the Ismailis, and some

^ Professor E. G. Browne (" Literary History of Persia") shows
from chronological evidence that this picturesque story has no
foundation in fact.

44 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

years later the great Vizier fell a victim to the dagger
of one of Hasan's emissaries.

The Ismailis were a secret sect of the Shiahs, its
members on being initiated binding themselves by
most solemn oaths to obey every command of their
superiors, and professing that they were followers of
Ismail, whom they regarded as the Seventh Imam. This
creed found many supporters, and in 107 1 young
Hasan-i-Sabbah joined the faction and henceforth flung
himself with all the force of his genius into the work
of spreading the tenets of his faith far and wide, and
undermining the power of Islam.

Devoted followers flocked to him, and some years
later he actually seized Alamut, an almost impregnable
stronghold near Kasvin, which became henceforth the
centre of the Ismaili power ; later on he took the city
of Kasvin itself.

The followers of Hasan were called Assassins, the
name said to be derived from their habit of taking the
intoxicating drug hashish, or Indian hemp, and they
became feared throughout the Mohammedan world,
for no prominent man was secure from their daggers ;
they also killed harmless citizens at random to inspire
terror of their order. Marco Polo, who gives an account
of the Assassins, says that when a youth was recruited
he was intoxicated with hashish and then conveyed
to a lovely garden where he was tended by girls of
surpassing beauty. When he recovered his senses he
would find himself in the room in which he had been
initiated, and he would be told by the " Old Man of
the Mountain" (the Grand Master) that he had been
vouchsafed a glimpse of the glories of the Paradise which
was reserved for all true Ismailis after death. This

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 45

supposed vision nerved thousands to perform the most
dangerous behests of their Master and also the most
revolting ; for there is a gruesome legend of how an
Ismaili, in the guise of a blind beggar, lured citizens of
Isfahan night after night to a certain house where
his accomplices, lying in wait, murdered and stripped
their unfortunate victims. Up to the time of the
Mongols, when Hulagu Khan took the fortress of
Alamut, and utterly destroyed the power of the
Assassins, these scourges of society pursued their evil
work practically without let or hindrance.

When the traveller leaves Kasvin and drives south-
ward the last ninety miles across the wide plain, he will
admire the fine outline of the Elburz range, and suddenly,
at a turn in the road, he will see Demavend, the mighty
extinct volcano, its outline like the apex of a triangle,
clearly silhouetted against the intense blue of the sky.
The great peak will become almost a part of his life as
long as he remains in Tehran, and he will observe it under
countless aspects, one of the most beautiful being when
its winter snows are flushed rose-red at sunset. The
whole range will throb and palpitate with the unearthly
light, until one after another the mountains lose their
fairy radiance, and grow grey and cold : Demavend,
however, retains a rosy coronet some moments after
death, as it were, has overtaken the others.

At the distance, Tehran, built in great part of the
mud on which it stands, is only distinguished from
the surrounding plain by the green trees of its many
gardens ; but as the traveller gets nearer he will see the
outline of the castellated city wall and the tiled domes
and minarets of mosques. He will enter the town by
a grandiose gateway adorned with glazed bricks in

46 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

patterns, the prevailing tones being blue arid yellow
relieved with black and white, the whole giving a touch
of splendour to its squalid surroundings. These gate-
ways are twelve in number ; some are adorned with the
exploits of Rustum, the Hercules and knight-errant of
Persia, and others depict the Persian soldier of to-day —
all of them, however, look best at a distance, and do not
bear a close examination.

The roads, many of them of considerable width, have
frequent holes, and there are waste spaces every here
and there on which refuse of all kinds is deposited.
Impenetrable high mud walls conceal all the better-
class houses ; and the dress of the townsfolk is dingy,
the long, much-kilted frock-coat, the baggy-kneed
European trousers, and the fashionable elastic-sided
boots not making for picturesqueness. The ladies, who
add so much to the attractiveness of European cities,
are huddled in Persia in a disguising and shapeless
black wrap, by which the prettiest and the plainest
are reduced to the same level.

The chief roads are broad with avenues of trees, but
have big holes at intervals caused by the remarkable
custom of digging up the public highway to get mud
to make the sun-burnt bricks ; men carrying on their
respective trades take up a good deal of the street ;
and large convoys of donkeys, so laden with brushwood
that only their legs are visible, totter along with an
absolute disregard to the rest of the traffic. Perhaps
a riderless horse may canter by on its way to the stable,
some Persian having left it outside the house at which
he was visiting without troubling to tether it.

In November there is usually quite a " rainy season "
in Tehran, the climate, so say the natives, having

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 47

become much moister since the planting of many
avenues of trees, and the laying-out of numerous
gardens, both in the town and its environs. At this
time the roads are almost impassable for pedestrians,
who take to wearing galoshes as they splash through
mire of the consistency of pea-soup ; and it is pitiable
to see the women flip-flapping along in the sea of liquid
mud, their heelless slippers being small protection
against the wet. At Tehran, as in all Persian towns,
it is inadvisable for any European woman to walk
about alone and unattended, as she would be liable to
insult from the populace ; and if she were riding,
Persians galloping past might perhaps collide with her
in hopes of unhorsing her.

In the narrow, vaulted passages of the bazaars, many
of which have most beautifully tiled and honeycombed
stucco roofs, the laden animals jostle one another, and
the passers-by have to be on the alert unless they wish
to be knocked down. Russian and Austrian goods
predominate, and the traveller in search of curios will
not find any here. Dellals, or dealers, however, are certain
to visit him, bringing carpets for his inspection ; and
opening knotted cloths they will produce old velvets and
embroideries, papier niache pictures, or enamel plaques.
If he sees anything he particularly fancies he had better
come to terms with the dellal^ for in all probability
it is unique. As time is of no object in Persia, bargain-
ing is a lengthy business, and the haggling needs
patience and good temper : sometimes weeks of dis-
cussion ensue before some valuable objet dart can pass
into the possession of the would-be purchaser, the price
demanded at first being a preposterous one.

A curious Persian custom about buying and selling

48 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

is that the purchaser can return within three days the
horse or carpet that he has bought, getting the money
back that he has paid for it. In the same way the
seller can retrieve what he has sold within the same
limit of time if he happen to change his mind. Thus,
if a European has purchased something much to his
taste, probably having wasted several hours in haggling
over the price, he cannot feel sure of possession until
the fourth day.

Though Tehran is an ancient city, yet it was never
of any importance until Agha Mohammed Khan
selected it in 1788 as his capital, therefore it is deficient
in the interesting mosques and other monuments of
older towns. Path Ali Shah did something for his
capital ; but it owes its present appearance principally
to Nasr-ed-Din Shah, who enclosed the city with a new
wall and moat having a circuit of eleven miles and
pierced with imposing gateways. The town boasts
some fine squares, chief of which is the Tup Meidan, or
Gun Square, where stands the Arsenal, guarded by most
obsolete cannon. Here are the Artillery barracks, the
walls ornamented with rough representations of the
" Lion and the Sun " on a red ground, and the Imperial
Bank of Persia, with a charmingly coloured stucco fagade.
The Europeans until lately were in the habit of playing
polo in the Meidan-i-Mashk, next to this square,
the game always attracting a crowd of onlookers,
among which were many soldiers in the shabbiest of
uniforms and with a lounging gait that showed them to
be sorely in need of the drill-sergeant.

The so-called Boulevard des Ambassadeurs, the pride
of the city, is a broad avenue planted with poplars and
lit with lamps of the kind that make darkness visible.

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 49

Here are several of the Legations, the most imposing of
which is the British with its campanile-like clock-tower.
This building, together with four substantial-looking
houses quite English in appearance, is placed in a lovely
garden, through which runs perhaps the most delicious
water in Persia, the traveller in Iran becoming quite a
connoisseur in water after he has experienced the
countless varieties of good and bad, mostly the latter,
of which the country is prolific.

Not far from the British Legation is the Nigaristan,
the favourite palace of Fath Ali Shah, its name meaning
Picture Gallery, from the collection of portraits of its
builder and his relatives, the handsome Kajar princes
all having a strong family resemblance to one another.
Every visitor observes a long slide leading to the edge
of a great marble bath, and is amused when he is told
that the many ladies favoured by Fath Ali Shah used
to " toboggan " down this descent with roulades of
laughter into the embrace of the long-bearded sovereign
waiting at the bottom.

Next in importance to the Artillery Square is the
Meidan-i-Shah, with its great octagonal tank of water,
near which is a huge brass cannon used as bast, or
sanctuary, for the criminals of Tehran, who are also wont
to resort to the flagstaff or stables of the British Lega-
tion, as well as to the mosques. Above the gateway
leading from this square is the Nagara-Khana, or Drum
House, where at sunrise and sunset is performed bar-
barous music, the custom, which is also in force at
Meshed, and other large cities, dating from Zoroastrian
times. It is one of the prerogatives of royalty, and as such
it honours the Shah in his capital, and the Holy Imam
Reza in his world-famous shrine in the City of Martyrdom.

so PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

At this point we are close to the large group of
palace-buildings, and it may be well to introduce the
Shah to our readers.

Up to 1906, at which date Muzaffer-ed-Din Shah
gave a Constitution to his subjects, the King of Persia
was an absolute monarch, only subject to the law of
Islam. He had the power of life and death over all,
and in theory everything was his property, save the
land belonging to the Church.

Mohammed Ali Shah succeeded his father to the
proud title of "Shah in Shah " or " King of Kings," in
January, 1907 ; but inherited a much-impoverished
treasury, his grandfather, and yet more his father,
having exhausted the exchequer by their expensive
visits to Europe.

As every one knows, Mohammed Ali Shah revoked
the Constitution which, on his accession, he swore to
support, threw his country into a state of civil war, and
was deposed July, 1909. Therefore it will be better to
describe the Shah and his Court as they were a few
years ago, rather than what they are actually at the
present moment.

The King of Persia styles himself by such high-
sounding titles as "The Point of Adoration of the
Universe," " The Shadow of Allah," " The Asylum of
the World " and so on ; but for all his great position, he
has never been the spiritual head of Islam, which is the
prerogative of the Sultan of Turkey, and his rule over
his subjects has always had checks in the power of the
priesthood.

The Achaemenian and Sasanian monarchs lived in
almost fabulous splendour ; but at the present day the
Shah's Court is shorn of much of its former glory, and

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 51

the monarch himself in the long, much-pleated frock-
coat and trousers borrowed from the West, is not a
particularly imposing figure, even though large rubies
and diamonds may adorn his breast, and he may carry
a diamond-studded plume in the front of his black
lambs'-wool hat

As can be gathered from the following description,
he makes a far less impressive appearance than his
ancestor Fath AH Shah, of whom Sir John Malcolm i
wrote, when on a mission to the Court of Persia in
1800, — " The ground of his robes was white, but he was
so covered with jewels of an extraordinary size, and
their splendour from his being seated where the rays of
the sun played upon them, was so dazzling that it
was impossible to distinguish the minute parts which
combined to give such amazing brilliancy to his whole
figure."

Even now Persian courtiers mendaciously assert
that the glorious appearance of their royal master
almost blinds them ; but in those days they would
have had more reason for their attitude of abject
humility than now.

Everything is done to keep alive a feeling of
reverence for the Shah, the recipient of any royal
missive or gift placing it on his head and to his eyes,
and then kissing it. As an example of this respect,
when at Meshed in the spring of 1908, the writer
was one day surprised to hear many salvoes of artillery,
and on inquiry was told that the Shah had sent his
portrait (merely an enlarged photo) to the Governor
of the city. This was the method of notifying its
presence to the populace (not its arrival, as it had
' " Persian Sketches."

52 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

come some time before, but the Governor had laid
it by until the omens were propitious for its display ! ).
The Shah's courtiers may be called upon to do
menial offices for their master, such as massaging him,
kneading his limbs, and even making a pilau or
sherbet for him. The monarch always eats alone,
all his food being examined by a doctor and tasted
beforehand for fear of poison, and the courtiers stand
round the room in silence.

When the sovereign has eaten, and left the apart-
ment, the princes of the blood take their places
on the carpets on which the meal is laid, and after
they have regaled themselves the courtiers follow.
Last of all the servants finish what is left of the
ample repast, and drink the remains of the iced sherbets.
The Shah's palace, called the ark, or citadel, is
situated in the centre of his capital, and composed of
groups of buildings, courtyards, and gardens, covering
a space about a quarter of a square mile and all
enclosed within high walls.

The royal jewels and precious objects of all kinds
are kept in a large hall, and may be inspected by
visitors. Here are heaps of pearls, many of great size,
diamonds and rubies galore, and the famous jika, or
diamond aigrette, worn by the Shah on State occasions.
A wonderful gold globe is shown with the different
countries of the world composed of gems, Persia being
inlaid with turquoise, the only precious stone found
in the empire ; and the whole work of art is said to
be worth ;^947,ooo. The great diamond, the Darya-i-
Nur (Sea of Light), which together with our Kuh-i-Nur
(Mountain of Light) was taken by Nadir-Shah at the
sack of Delhi, is kept here. The latter diamond at

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 53

Nadir's death found its way to Afghanistan, and
thence to India, falling into the hands of the English
in 1850.

A splendidly jewelled and enamelled throne stands
in this hall, and Lord Curzon ^ discovered that it is
partly made from the broken remains of the celebrated
" Peacock " throne of Aurungzebe. He has also proved
that the gem-studded throne which goes by that name
(Takht-i-Taous) and which many writers believe to
be the original work of art that Nadir Shah brought
back with the almost fabulous loot of Delhi, is of
no earlier date than the time of Fath AH Shah, and
was made at the command of that monarch. It is
doubtful whether all these jewels still repose in the
great gallery, because rumours are rife that Mohammed
Ali Shah was obliged to make inroads on his treasures
in order to pay his troops.

At the great Persian festival of No Ruz (New Year's
Day), when the sun passes into the sign of the Ram
on March 21st, the Shah shows himself to his subjects —
who are all clad in new garments — much as did the
Achsemenian and Sasanian monarchs.

He appears in the Throne Room, a hall beautifully
decorated with mirror-work, and seats himself, a la
Persane, on an elaborately carved platform of white
marble. The curtains covering an immense window
are drawn back in order that the admiring populace
who fill the great courtyard may gaze on their monarch
before whom they prostrate themselves to the earth,
and from whom they receive largesse in the shape
of gold coins. A poet recites an ode in His Majesty's
praise, for which he is given a robe of honour ; bands
' "Persia."

54 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

play different airs at the same time ; wrestlers, acrobats,
and conjurers perform, and the ill-used Jews are ducked
again and again in the tanks amid the merriment of the
crowd.

The courtiers, who have given New Year's gifts of
money to their sovereign, are clad in sumptuous
garments and turbans of Kerman shawls, and with
red-stockinged feet stand around in solemn silence,
adorned with many orders. The foreign ministers are
received in audience by the monarch on this day of
universal rejoicing, which was instituted in Zoroastrian
times or even earlier. It is a day when gifts are given
and received, servants, for example, getting new clothes
and a month's wages. If, however. No Ruz should
chance to fall during a month of mourning, such as
Muharram or Ramazan, there is practically no gaiety, the
bazaars are not decorated, and there will be no joyous
crowd issuing from the city gates, no paying of visits
and feasting. All will be much as usual, the countless
sugar-loaves and platters of sweetmeats which the
foreigner connects with No Ruz being conspicuous
by their absence.

The Shah, who must be of the Shiah faith, can,
according to Mohammedan law, have only four wives ;
but as many sigehs, or temporary wives, and slaves
as he pleases. The enormous expense of the always
large anderoon of a monarch does much to im-
poverish the country; for all the favourites inhabit
separate pavilions and have their own servants and
carriages. When the royal ladies, who have such
high-sounding titles as "The Gaiety of the Empire,"
" The Delight of the Realm," and so on, drive out,
it is customary for every Persian to turn his back on the

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 55

equipages and stand with his face to the wall or, if
possible, disappear down a side-street, as otherwise he
may be roughly handled by the eunuchs in attendance.

The monarch has the right to enter every anderoon
in his kingdom, his royal glance being supposed to
confer good luck on the women on whom it falls.
Should he happen to take a fancy to any man's wife,
the loyal husband will be obliged to divorce the lady
in the potentate's favour, and will also present him with
any beautiful slave whom he may admire.

During the royal progresses, villagers with handsome
daughters bring the girls to the Shah's notice as he
passes, hoping that the sovereign may order them to
be put among the women of the anderoon, where
there are chances of rising to high position. For
example, the mother of the present Zil-i-Sultan (the
little Shah's great-uncle) was a Kurdish peasant-girl.
However, by Persian law, the mother of the Shah must
be of the blood-royal, therefore this prince was obliged
to give place to his younger brother in the succession
to the throne.

Speaking of these progresses, the country through
which the Shah and his enormous following pass is
practically denuded of food of every kind, the sovereign's
servants commandeering everything without paying for
it, just as if they were in an enemy's land. It frequently
happens that the governor of a province will pay the
monarch a large sum on the understanding that the dis-
trict in question should not be included in the royal tour.

When the Shah becomes tired of any one of his
wives, who is probably no longer young enough to
please him, he gets rid of her gracefully by marrying
her to some official, whether the gentleman in question

56 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

may desire the honour or not. The lady becomes the
head of the household of her new husband, and if she
pleases may compel him to divorce his wife or wives
in her favour, leaving her to rule alone ; and such
alliances constitute some of the few exceptions where
the Persian woman asserts herself.

The writer had the privilege of being present at a
party given by one of the royal favourites, and the
richness of the ungraceful costumes and the profusion
of the jewels that adorned the crowds of Court ladies
who were invited, were a wonderful sight. All were
interested in their European guests, fingering their furs,
eyeing their clothes, and trying to engage them in
conversation, during which handsomely clad women-
servants handed round relays of tea and, sweetmeats.
Then the Shah came in, and the busy hum of talk
ceased entirely, every fair Persian preening herself,
and doing her best to catch the monarch's eye as he
strode across the room. However, he paid no attention
to any of his countrywomen, but was eager to inspect
the foreign ladies present, with whom he shook hands
and did his best to converse in indifferent French.

The Shah has many palaces outside the walls of
Tehran, perhaps the most noticeable being the hunting-
box of Doshan Tepe (Palace of a Hare) situated on a
rocky spur, a couple of miles from the city. At the
foot of the hill the Persian Zoo is housed. This
menagerie is small, and the smell of the animals,
which are ill-kept, is disagreeable. But there are
Persian lions, tigers, leopards, and bears to be seen,
and the captives at the time of the writer's visit
appeared to be on excellent terms with one of the
keepers, who evidently had a " way " with his charges.

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 57

Another palace is the white, barrack-looking building
of Kasr-i-Kajar (Castle of the Kajar), which Nasr-ed-
Din Shah, on returning from his first visit to Europe,
is reported to have compared to Windsor Castle, to
the disadvantage of the latter. It stands on the
gravel slope of Shimran, at a great height on the top
of a series of terraces, and below is a large lake on
which the European colony enjoy excellent skating
when the winter is severe.

In the environs of Tehran there are charming villages
to which the foreign ministers and their staffs retire
during the heat of summer. The British Legation has
a residence in a delightful garden with running water
and a big bathing-tank at Gulahek, some six miles
north of the capital. Mohammed Shah, besides pre-
senting the garden to the minister then at Tehran,
gave him the rights of a landlord over the villagers,
who pay their taxes to the British, and have other
privileges. Russia has the village of Zargandeh on the
same terms.

When the Shah goes out he is attended by runners,
picturesque in scarlet and gold, and carrying peacock's
feathers in their curious turreted hats which are sup-
posed to be reminiscent of the crowns of the kings
and princes who were conquered by the Sasanian
monarchs.

If the Shah is riding, his charger will have a golden,
gem-studded collar and trappings of gold, and his
gholams, or bodyguards, have broad silver bands round
the necks of their steeds, one of the prerogatives of
royalty being the right to dye the tails of the horses
with henna. But Muzaffer-ed-Din Shah usually drove
in a large brougham, and the ex-Shah, Mohammed AH,

58 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

favoured the motor-car, a vehicle ill-fitted to run on
what go by the name of roads in Persia.

The monarch has a huge surrounding of obsequious
courtiers, who remain standing when he is seated,
answer his questions in low tones, agree with him on
every point, and flatter him in a manner outrageous to
European ears. The Vizier, or Prime Minister; the
Chamberlain ; the Treasurer ; the Master of Horse ; the
Chief Carpet Spreader, and the Chief Executioner are
only a few among a crowd of dignitaries, most of whom
rely much upon their wits for a livelihood. Even if their
salaries are paid, they have probably given large sum§ to
the Shah for their posts ; therefore they " squeeze " their
underlings, and take bribes from those of the outer
world who may want some favour from the sovereign.

Modakhel, or commission, is a word with which
the European speedily becomes very familiar. It
means that every one, from the highest in the land to
the lowest, takes what percentage he can from any
money passing through his hands. The Shah, at the
head, farms out the provinces of his realm at No Ruz
to the highest bidders ; and the man who has hired a
province, hurries to his miniature kingdom and extorts
money on his arrival from all the rich inhabitants under
his rule. Some intrigue at the capital may oust him
from his position before the year is out, therefore his
great aim is to recoup himself and make a handsome
sum over and above his outlay in the shortest possible
time. It may easily be understood that no governor
would think of repairing bridges, making roads, or
improving his province under such a system — in fact,
he spends as little as possible. During his tenure of
office he has supreme power, his Court being well-nigh

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 59

as hedged in with ceremony as is that of the Shah
itself, and his suite do their share in extorting money
from the townsfolk. These latter probably " grind the
faces " of their apprentices in their turn ; and the lowest
servant in Persia will make his modakhel on the
smallest article purchased for his employer. It is even
said that the Shah, the supreme Fount of Justice in
the kingdom, extorts a commission from any criminal
whom he may have pardoned! In short, practically
every office is sold in Persia, and practically every
official is corrupt.

The tomb of a governor of a district in south
Persia is actually treated as a shrine at which the
inhabitants worship because the dead man when in
power never robbed the poor ! It is to be hoped that
as time goes on the National Council will call many
such saints into being ; but at present they are evidently
not common.

In Persia all government is personal, an able monarch,
such as great Shah Abbas, raising his country to
a high pitch of prosperity. If, however, a king has
an enlightened minister the latter's tenure of office
is always precarious, because there is certain to be a
powerful party at Court who will try to influence the
Shah against him by stirring up the jealousy of the
monarch or playing on his fears, and as a rule,
the Vizier will be disgraced or put to death. There
is no permanence in the policy of these autocrats :
for if a beneficent Shah have an incompetent successor,
all the good that the former has done will be lost.

Of late years the burden of taxation has fallen almost
entirely on the tradespeople and the peasantry ; the
kingdom grows steadily poorer as the years pass; all

6o PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

is bribery and dishonesty, and the eyes of the Shah
are blinded by the Court camarilla that always
surround him and endeavour to keep the truth from
reaching him.

The army, the bulwark of his throne, is disgracefully
paid, clothed and fed, with the exception of the so-
called Cossack regiments at Tehran in which Persians
have been drilled by Russians to a pitch of efficiency,
and are the only properly paid troops in the kingdom.
As a rule the officers "eat" the pay of the soldiery,
and in their turn their salaries are " eaten " by the
Commander-in-Chief; and so it goes on.

The ordinary Persian serbaz, dirty, ragged, and
slouching, carrying on the trade of a money-changer
to enable him to eke out his scanty pay, has nothing
martial about him, and usually distinguishes himself
in action by a display of cowardice ; but this is not to
be wondered at, for his officers are tarred with the
same brush. On the march each soldier has a diminu-
tive donkey, which carries his kit and rifle, and on
which he rides at intervals, turning the animal into
the springing crops to feed whenever there is a halt.
As there is no commissariat department, the soldiers
loot food from the luckless villagers, who have no
redress. When the writer accompanied a British and
Persian Frontier Commission in Baluchistan, she
noticed that the country people retired at its approach,
leaving their houses absolutely bare, in order to escape
being forced to supply provisions gratis.

Lord Curzon i sums up the subject of the Persian
soldier in the following words : " A more irregular
army, in the most literal sense of the word, does not
^ "Persia."

THE SHAH, HIS CAPITAL AND GOVERNMENT 6i

exist on the face of the globe. Irregular in its enlist-
ment, dress, arms, ammunition, discipline, and service,
it would be strange if its conduct were not irregular
also."

The petrifying form of education in vogue does not
help the nation; for it must stultify, rather than
expand the intellect to be forced to read the Koran
in Arabic probably without understanding a word of the
sacred book. The madressehs, or colleges, endowed
by the pious, are to instruct youths wishing to become
priests, doctors, or judges. But as these educational
centres are in the hands of the priests, no Western
knowledge is taught, the whole teaching given being
based upon the Koran, ingenious dissertations upon
its many obscure passages being dignified by the name
of philosophy. Here arguments take place as little
to edification as the well-known discussion of the
mediaeval Schoolmen as to how many angels could
accommodate themselves upon the point of a needle !

Nasr-ed-Din Shah started a Polytechnic School at
Tehran where European instructors impart Western
teaching ; and there are also military colleges conducted
by Austrians at Tehran and Tabriz ; but these are
merely a gleam of light in the universal darkness.

Justice in Persia is administered by the governors
and their representatives and by the priesthood. The
urf, or unwritten law, is that administered by the
laity; but the priests confine themselves to the shar
(the written or divine law — in other words, the Koran).

Justice is usually summary ; no witness is asked to
take an oath, and false testimony is common. Both
sides bribe to the extent of their resources, and he who
has the longest purse will usually win his case, unless

62 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

he is so obviously in the wrong that the governor fears
public opinion, or the priesthood, usually in opposition,
supports the cause of the poorer claimant. The evidence
taken is often of the flimsiest character. For example,
if a man were accused of stealing, and a bit of rag found
near the spot tallied with the supposed culprit's clothing,
this would be considered sufficient evidence to condemn
the perhaps innocent prisoner to the loss of a hand for
theft.

Any one suspected of a crime is frequently tortured
to force a confession, and in the towns is imprisoned
and half-starved by his jailer whom he has to pay for
his food. Law is as a rule cheap and speedy ; but
where money is in question, the governor will take his
share when he has adjudicated. Although in theory all
have a right of appeal to the Shah, yet few avail them-
selves of the privilege, knowing that in such a case
everything would in all probability be swallowed up by
the royal judge and his courtiers.

Any small case in the country is settled by the
kedkhoda, or headman of the village, who is assisted
by the greybeards of the hamlet. No women are ever
imprisoned, although if mixed up in a crime they will
probably be poisoned, but from the retirement in which
they live such cases are of the rarest.

This is an attempt to depict the Shah and his
methods of government as they were until lately ; but
it is to be hoped that both may undergo modification
in the near future, and that Persia may have in herself
the seeds of a new and vigorous life.

CHAPTER IV
THE PERSIAN MAN

FROM the cradle to the grave — nay, even in the
life beyond the grave — the balance weighs
heavily in favour of the Persian man as compared
with the Persian woman. " He that has no son has
no light in his eyes," runs the saying, and it is looked
upon as a disgrace if a man has not an heir to carry
on his name.

When a baby-boy, born of well-to-do parents, comes
into the world, he is bedded in a silken cradle and
arrayed in embroidered garments, and the proud nurse
who carries him into the presence of his father will
receive a gift. The position of his mother with her
husband will be greatly improved by his arrival, and
a big feast will be given in his honour, at which friends,
priests, and beggars will be fed, and musicians and
dancers will entertain the guests.

The baby will be hung with amulets to preserve him
from the influence of the "evil eye," one of these charms
consisting of a turquoise struck into a sheep's eye
brought from Mecca, at the time of the annual sacri-
fice. When his nurse takes him for an airing, the
clothes in which he is swaddled so tightly that he can
only move his head and hands, will be of coarse

64 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

material, this ruse being adopted to prevent passers-by
from commenting on his beauty. Were their eyes
drawn towards him, attracted by fine garments, they
might utter some expression of admiration, which, if
they forgot to couple it with the saving Mashallah
(God is great), would almost certainly bring sickness
upon the luckless infant. If the child happen to have
convulsions during teething, an infallible remedy is to
hang from its neck a strip of calico the exact length of
the little patient and inscribed by a mulla with texts
from the Koran ; but as this costs a sovereign it is never
used for girls.

At about eight years old, the boy is more or less
separated from his mother and sisters, and put
in charge of men-servants, a priest undertaking his
education, which consists for the most part in learn-
ing to read and write and to recite the Koran.
The sacred book of Islam is written in Arabic, and as
no attempt is made to explain to the boy the meaning
of what he is reading, this method of instruction cannot
do much to develop the mind. Xenophon wrote that
the youths of Persia were taught justice in their schools
together with the arts of hurling the dart and shooting
with the bow, and this, coupled with Herodotus' saying
that all Persians were trained to ride, to shoot, and to
speak the truth, seems a much better type of education
than that which is in vogue at the present day.

It is curious to see a group of scholars sitting on
their heels round their master, swaying their bodies to
fro, and all reciting in a sing-song and at the pitch of
their voices what perhaps the teacher himself is unable
to translate. Or they are being instructed in the rudi-
ments of writing, resting their paper on the right knee

THE PERSIAN MAN 65

and beginning at the rzgk^-hand side with their reed
pens, there being no slates in Persia.

Caiigraphy may be classed as one of the fine arts, so
greatly is it esteemed, even though at the present day
it has been more or less superseded by printing. It
resembles drawing rather than writing, and a letter is
inscribed on a piece of very shiny paper, cut to the
required size and held in the hand. If the paper prove
too small, the margin always left on the right will be
used, and if the writer happen to make a mistake he
will lick off the Indian ink letters with his tongue.
He does not write his signature, but rubs some ink
on to a seal with which he presses the paper. Even
an educated Persian will take some time to decipher
a missive, the reason being that the dots and tiny signs
which differentiate the letters of the alphabet, and are
always printed, are invariably left out in writing.

If a boy prove idle or stupid at his tasks, he will be
forced to " eat sticks," a Persian expression for the
bastinado, the national punishment to which the highest
in the land as well as the lowest may be subjected, and
which is not regarded in any way as a disgrace. In
his hours of recreation the child of rich parents is put
in the charge of a lala, or pedagogue, usually an old
man, who discourages animal spirits of any kind, and
impresses on his young companion that it is undignified
to run, or jump or frolic.

The boy's dress is a man's in miniature — the same
European trousers, vest of Kerman shawl, frock-coat
much kilted at the waist (the tightly fitting short coat
of an Englishman being considered indecorous), and
the astrachan kolah, or hat. And as he is a replica
of his father as regards his clothes, he endeavours to

66 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

be the same in his manners, copying the courtly terms
of speech and compliments of the "grown-ups," and
learning the right mode of address to royalties, officials,
dignitaries of the Church, merchants, and so on, together
with the complicated Persian etiquette.

Later on he will accompany his parent when visiting,
speaking of himself as the bandeh, or slave, of any
superior, and will deal out compliments such as " May
your nose be fat," " May your shadow never grow
less," in proportion to the rank of the recipient, soon
grasping that a man looks upon it as a sarcasm if he
receives more than his due. He must also know the
proper position to take when asked by his host to seat
himself upon the carpet ; for there are no chairs in
common use, and all kneel and sit back on their
heels, to the great detriment of the fit of their
trousers.

The youth, moreover, must note the ceremonial con-
nected with the going-round of the kalimt, or water-
pipe, observing how each guest takes it in order of
rank, but makes a gesture of passing it to his neigh-
bour, and waits for the latter's refusal before putting the
tube to his own lips. When he takes his leave he must
remember to put his right foot first into the slippers
which he and all those present left at the door on
entering.

The Persian youth rides as if he had been born in
the saddle, but his idea of equitation is to rush madly
at full speed, spurring his horse with the sharp points
of his shovel-stirrups, yelling to it, and then pulling
it back suddenly on to its haunches with the severe
Persian bit. His spurts of fiery energy will probably
be succeeded by days of idleness, in which he will

THE PERSIAN MAN 67

spend many hours in visiting his friends, sipping in-
numerable cups of tea — the national drink — and smoking
kalians. It will indeed be well if he obeys the pre-
cept of the Prophet and refrains from wine and games
of chance, and merely smokes Shirazi tobacco instead
of the opium and hashish, now sadly common among
\}s\Q.jeunesse ddree of Persia.

The idea of having a career is not one that finds
favour with young men in a land where to do nothing
gracefully is a fine art. Certainly there is not much
open to a youth save minor positions at the Court of
the Shah or acting as a hanger-on to some governor
of a province or high official, such sinecures being
spoken of as "doing service."

If of the merchant class or the son of a priest, a
craftsman, or a peasant, a man will in all probability
succeed his father in his occupation. But a nation
which counts time as of no value, and whose favourite
expressions are Furda inshallah (To-morrow, please
God !) and Aib ne dared (It doesn't matter), would
look upon the " strenuous life " as a kind of lunacy.

And here a few words must be said about the Persian
servant to whom his master confides his sons at an
early age. Domestics are fed and clothed by their
employers, dressing so much like them that foreigners
new to the country might find it difficult to distinguish
a master from his dependents were it not for the humble
air of the latter and their habit of hiding their hands
in their sleeves. They are supposed to receive wages
in cash, but as that commodity is scarce in Persia they
often have to depend on the commission of 10 per cent,
which they take on everything that they purchase for
the household. Besides this, if a master sends a present,

68 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the servant selected to carry it receives the value of the
article in money from the recipient. This is a custom
which Europeans often find inconvenient, as they are
apt, on their arrival in Persia, to be overwhelmed with
gifts for which they will, nolens volens, have to pay far
more than they are worth.

Juvenile Persians play with the children of the ser-
vants, one of whom may be educated by the mulla
with the sons of the family, partaking in the amuse-
ments of the latter and following his young masters
on horseback after gazelle and partridge. A gentle-
man visiting a house will always speak to the head-
servant of his host, and it is a particular mark of
friendship to the latter to send his retainer on some
trifling errand, this being looked upon as a great com-
pliment from a superior when visiting an inferior. The
servants break into the conversation at intervals, the
guests often refer to them, and they are expected to
bring home all the gossip of the bazaars with which
to regale their employers. In fact they are part and
parcel of the family, look upon their master as a kind
of father, care for his interests, are called by him
batchaha (children), and hold perhaps a better posi-
tion than that of the poor relatives and hangers-on to
be found in so many households. Talking of servants
leads on to slaves, and, strange though it may seem,
Persia is the Paradise of that unhappy class. Though
their owners have power of life and death over them,
Persians say that as slaves are costly to buy they must
be well treated and given no hard work to do ; more-
over, as they have no home of their own all their
interest is sure to be centred in that of their adoption,
therefore they can be trusted far more than any servant.

THE PERSIAN MAN 69

Owing to the vigorous way in which Great Britain has
put down the slave trade in the Persian Gulf, negroes
and negresses are expensive, though many are still
introduced by the pilgrims from Mecca. As a rule
they become much attached to their owners, who
leave everything in their care without hesitation, and
slaves often get considerable wealth if in the household
of a man of position, but hardly ever wish to purchase
their freedom. If a negress has a child by her master
she becomes free, and her boy or girl will be brought
up with the other children of the family and probably
will marry a Persian, an admixture of black blood
being looked upon as no degradation.

The day of a well-to-do Persian is somewhat as
follows. He will be roused before sunrise by the call
of the muezzin, his servant not daring to wake him,
as it is a sin to disturb the slumbers of the Faithful.
The clear voice rings from the minar of the mosque
above the slumbering town or village, summoning all
men to prayer in the following words : —

"God is great ! There is no God but God ! Mohammed is
the Prophet of God ! Come to prayers ! Come to salvation !
Come to good works ! There is no other God but God !
Prayers are better than sleep ! "

These last words are only recited at dawn, and our
Persian, flinging off his padded quilts, makes a speedy
toilet by donning his coat and trousers, his under-
garments being only renewed at the weekly bath.
He exchanges his felt skull-cap for the orthodox
tall, black lambs'-wool hat, as he is never seen with
uncovered head, even in the intimacy of the family
circle.

70 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Water is then poured from a ewer over his hands, and
he washes his face, his arms to the elbows, and his feet
and ankles, before prostrating himself in devotion on his
prayer-carpet, his face turned in the direction of the
Kaaba at Mecca, and his forehead resting on a fragment
of earth from the Holy City. Among other prayers he
will recite the Fatiha, held in as great reverence by
Moslems as is the Lord's Prayer by Christians, and
used almost as often. It is the opening chapter of
the Koran, and runs thus : —

" Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds !
The Compassionate, the Merciful !
King on the Day of Judgment !

Thee do we worship and to Thee do we cry for help !
Guide Thou us on the right path !
The path of those to whom Thou art gracious !
Not of those with whom Thou art angered,
Nor of those who go astray ! " '

His prayers and genuflexions (which are repeated
again noon and at sunset) being accomplished, he
drinks a glass of much-sweetened tea without milk.
This he stirs with a silver spoon that is worked in
filigree in order to take away the temptation of
sipping from it, and thus committing the unlawful
action of putting this metal into his mouth ; and
when he has eaten a flabby cake of bread with some
sweetmeats, and has smoked a water-pipe, he will
be ready for the work of the day. The next meal is an
ample repast served at noon, a leather cloth being laid
on the ground, thin flaps of bread serving as plates
and napkins, and pilaus, chilaus, kabobs, and sherbets
making their appearance with plenty of fruit during
^ Rodwell's translation of the Koran.

THE PERSIAN MAN

71

summer. The pilau, the national dish of Persia,
is a mound of beautifully cooked rice mixed with
clarified butter, bits of meat and different vegetables,
and if served with a sauce of pomegranate juice and
chopped almonds it is called a fisenjan. The chilau
kabob, or chef d'ceuvre of Persian cookery, is made
from the thick part of a saddle of lamb, the
tiny pieces of meat being steeped beforehand in
vinegar and herbs and disposed on a mound of
rice, raw eggs and butter being its accompani-
ments. Kabobs consist of pieces of lamb, fat, liver,
and onion stuck alternately on skewers which are
turned over a charcoal fire and then handed to the
guests, all of whom eat far more rice and bread than
meat. The sherbets are merely fruit syrups, those made
of lime or pomegranate juice being most refreshing
drinks in hot weather, and they are served in large
bowls, in each of which is a big ladle, often exquisitely
carved from pear-wood by the villagers of Abadeh.
Every one drinks from the same spoon, but it is against
etiquette to touch it with the lips. As there are no
knives and forks, each man feeds him.self with his
fingers, moulding the rice with his right hand into a kind
of sausage and manipulating it so cleverly that not a
grain is dropped. After the meal, which is eaten in
silence, is over, the servants pour rose-water over the
greasy right hands of the party (it would be a gross
breach of decorum to use both hands in feeding),
and all then compose themselves for a siesta — a
habit indulged in by the lowest as well as the
highest, and which it is almost a crime to dis-
turb. Tea, fruit, and sweetmeats appear to be taken
at any time during the day, and the evening

72 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

meal after sunset is sometimes not served till nine
o'clock.

If guests are invited to this they drink wine before
dinner in defiance of the Prophet's prohibition, and
apparently callous to his threat that his followers will be
forced to expiate each draught by swallowing a pecu-
liarly nauseous water in the next world. They nibble
salted pistachio nuts, nachod (a kind of pea), and melon
seeds, indulging in lively conversation until the meats
arrive, and before partaking of these they must rinse their
mouths and wash their hands clean of the forbidden wine.

As no Persian eats beef or pork, and there is no
fish in the interior, the menu is practically mutton and
fowls with sometimes game. The dishes already given
repeat themselves year in, year out, with hardly any
variation, though there is a profusion of fruit and vege-
tables to compensate for this monotony.

The moment dinner is over the guests depart, and
those of the household prepare for bed, taking off their
outer garments, throwing themselves on divans, and
pulling resais, or padded cotton quilts, over them, head
and all.

The public bath is used by a Persian as a club where
he meets his friends and exchanges the gossip of the
town, and he will be attended by his servant carrying
towels, a change of linen, and jugs of cold water to pour
over his master, when the latter has emerged from the
hot tank. As water is a valuable commodity in Persia,
the contents of the large tanks are not changed
frequently, and a bather runs great risk of contracting
infectious diseases in a low-class hanimam. After the
bath the hair is dyed a glossy blue-black with indigo

THE PERSIAN MAN 73

and henna, and the nails and finger-tips of the middle
classes are tinted with the juice of the latter plant. The
orthodox shave the top of the head, letting the back hair
grow long, the idea being to leave two locks by which the
angels who come to question a newly buried man, may
carry him up to the realms of the Blessed if he is able
to affirm that he is a good Mohammedan, Persians say
that this custom of shaving the head is out of compli-
ment to Ali, who was bald and who dyed his long beard.
All men cultivate a moustache, a hairless upper lip being
looked upon as effeminate, and at about thirty a short
clipped beard is grown, which after the age of forty is
never cut.

Friday is the Mohammedan equivalent to our
Sunday, business being suspended in the bazaars, and
after the bath orthodox Persians repair to the mosque
for noonday prayer. Here there is no distinction made
between rich and poor, a prince prostrating himself
next the dirtiest beggar, and all looking toward the
meh'rab, a recess which points in the direction of the
sacred black stone built into the Kaaba at Mecca.
This relic is supposed to have been brought by
Abraham, and was held in such profound reverence in
Mohammed's day, that the Reformer himself did
homage to it, although he strictly prohibited the
worship of idols of any kind.

The service and the portions of the Koran selected
are all recited in Arabic, the pishnainaz or leader of
the prayers in a mosque, taking the congregation
through some thirteen invocations to God, each said
with the body in a different attitude of devotion. Then
the preacher mounts the step of his low pulpit and
delivers the khutbah, or Friday oration — a kind

74 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

of sermon, which includes prayers for Mohammed, the
"Companions," and the Shah, and which is delivered
in Arabic.

When he arrives at a suitable age, the parents of a
Persian youth busy themselves in arranging a marriage
for him. Bachelors are looked down upon in Iran — in
fact it is a disgrace for a man to die unwedded, and in
such a case his funeral is spoken of in mockery as his
marriage.

As a Persian has never seen the face of any lady save
his relatives, he has no opportunity of choosing his wife
and must leave the selection entirely to his mother.
Unless he marries a cousin, recourse will probably be
had to certain old women who act as go-betweens,
telling the mothers of eligible sons about the dowry
and charms of eligible daughters. Suppose a suitable
girl be found, the would-be mother-in-law goes to
inspect her, and if the young lady is adverse to the
match, for she may have seen the youth on her rare
outings, she will offer refreshments so rudely that the
negotiations will be broken off in a hurry. This,
however, seldom occurs, as a Persian girl is usually
anxious to be married, and if all has gone smoothly she
and her mother will drink tea at the house of the
would-be fiance who, hidden away, may perhaps get
a glimpse of his future bride.

After this comes the public betrothal by the priest,
at which the man is supposed to see the face of his
bride for the first time, and has his one chance of
drawing back at the price of paying to the girl's parents
half the dowry that they would have given him with
their daughter ; but a man doing this is socially disgraced.

THE PERSIAN MAN

75

The betrothal and marriage take place in the house
and not in the mosque. The hospitable Persians often
saddle themselves with a heavy load of debt on these
occasions, as the wedding festivities may last a whole
week, during which there is much eating and drinking,
musicians, dancers, and wrestlers being hired to
entertain the numerous guests.

Four wives are allowed to each man by Mohammedan
law, but owing partly to the poverty of the country and
perhaps because of the worry of rival wives, polygamy is
becoming rare in Iran, Persians even speaking of the
custom as " unfashionable." " Two tigresses in a house
are better than two mistresses," is a significant proverb ;
and indeed the jealousy that ensues in such a case may
easily be imagined, and has been known to end in the
death by poison of one of the wives or perhaps of the
husband himself.

Owing to the seclusion of women, it is hardly possible
for a wife to be a real companion to her husband. She
may never be seen with him in public, she cannot
discuss with him anything that is going on in the
outside world, as her horizon is practically bounded by
the walls of her own home, and she knows none of his
friends nor he any of hers. Indeed, so strict is Persian
etiquette that a man may only inquire about the
health of his friend's family by the discreet term of
khana, or the " house." The husband really manages
the establishment, pays the servants, and checks the
accounts of his steward and head groom, the wife being
by no means a " helpmate " in the English sense of the
word. The love of a Persian is bestowed on his
children and on his parents, a man once telling the
writer that it would be against nature for any one

76 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

to care for a wife as much as for a father or a
mother.

The priest who educates a Persian advises him, as
one of the cardinal rules of life, to do the exact contrary
of what a woman counsels ; therefore it can easily be
understood that a man's opinion of women is by no
means an exalted one, and the fact that a husband may
introduce temporary wives to any extent into his house-
hold, lowers it still further. Polygamy frequently
breeds hate between fathers and sons, and no real
home-life is possible if a wife feels that she may be
divorced at any moment.

When a Persian comes to the hour of death he
is never left to die " in peace," according to the
English idea, the room in which he lies being crowded
with relatives and friends, all talking loudly, smoking
kalians, and sipping tea at intervals.

As soon as he has breathed his last, with his face
turned towards Mecca, his corpse is prepared for burial
with camphor and spices, the interment taking place
within twenty-four hours.

It is a time of hurry and confusion. All the water in
the house is thrown away at once, in the belief that any
one drinking it would be afflicted with colic ; mullas
recite portions of the Koran ; and the hired mourners
wail and beat their breasts, their aid being invoked
because the Prophet forbade weeping on the part of
relatives, as their dear ones were in a state of happiness.
When the coffin arrives, friends crowd in to help to bear
it to the cemetery. Many take turns in carrying the
bier, this being a meritorious act, and the corpse is
borne at a great pace to the graveyard, Mohammed

THE PERSIAN MAN

11

telling his followers to hasten their steps in order to
give the righteous man happiness as soon as possible,
or, in the case of an evil man, to get rid of his weight
from off their shoulders. The deceased is placed in the
coffin with his shroud loosened and two sticks under the
armpits to enable him to raise himself when the two
black angels, with their blue eyes, come to question him
as to his orthodoxy. When the earth is shovelled over
him and the bearers have repeated the Fatiha they de-
part in the belief that the angels are already settling the
fate of their friend, and either enlarging his grave to
the size of a room, or narrowing it so that he yells
in anguish.

Even if the deceased is able to satisfy his inquisitors,
he has still to pass the Bridge of Sirat, " finer than a hair
and sharper than a sword," before he can reach Paradise.
This bridge spans the fires of hell, and while the
righteous pass over easily to the abode of the Blessed,
the wicked fall headlong into the torments below.

On the third day after the burial the relatives of a
dead man visit the grave and employ mullas to recite
portions of the Koran ; this mourning is kept up for a
week, much money being expended on the priests and
on hired mourners.

If the deceased has been unable to go to Mecca in
his lifetime his family will often actually pay some one
to make the pilgrimage for his benefit, the pilgrim
accruing no advantage to himself. If it be possible the
dead man will be interred in the precincts of a shrine,
being practically sure of heaven in such a holy resting-
place ; and rich men build their tombs beforehand and
often visit them in the company of admiring friends.
But they do not have things entirely their own way ; for

78 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

if a wealthy man who has led an irreligious life be
buried close to a shrine, an angel will exchange his
corpse for that of a poor and saintly man lying in some
neglected grave outside the city walls !

Three days are set apart in each year for visiting the
graves. On these occasions the well-to-do invite their
friends to sit on carpets laid among the tombs and
to listen to a mulla reciting the Koran while they
partake of refreshments, the whole being quite a social
function.

If a Persian has not omitted to perform his
devotions, has fasted during Ramazan, and has given
alms to the poor, he dies in a happy confidence of
attaining to a Paradise replete with material enjoyments.
Rivers of delicious water, of milk, and of honey, flow
through lovely gardens, where beautiful youths hand
round goblets of unfermented wine. A marvellous tree,
laden with every conceivable fruit, thrusts its branches
through the windows of the mansion apportioned to
each Believer, offering him his favourite dishes, and
even providing him at his desire with horses ready
saddled and bridled. The Faithful, clad in silken
garments, lie on couches and are tended by houris of
surpassing beauty, who sing enchantingly and make
them forget the women they have known on earth, the
humblest believer being said to have no less than
seventy-two of these fair ministrants.

All renew their youth and its desires in Paradise, but
though faithful women may enter this abode of the
Blessed, it seems plain that the Prophet did not con-
template that the marriages made on earth should be
re-cemented in heaven. Indeed it appears that women
are relegated to an inferior garden peopled with angelic

THE PERSIAN MAN 79

companions of the male sex. Therefore I think it may
fairly be claimed that the Persian man from his birth,
during the whole of his lifetime and in the next world,
has a decided advantage over the Persian woman.

It is difficult to judge his character fairly, as the
Oriental standard is not the same as the European ; but
on the whole the typical upper and middle class Irani
is a pleasant-mannered man with a flow of conversation,
and because of his social qualities has been called the
" Frenchman of the East."

He is keen, lively, and full of curiosity, vain of his
looks and figure, and is careful in his dress, though
forbidden to wear gold or silver, save the setting of his
ring and the mounting of his sword-hilt. He loves
visiting his friends, and is most hospitable, to lay food
before a guest being, according to the proverb, one of
the three occasions on which it is right to hurry. His
literary and artistic tastes find an outlet in beautifully
written copies of the poets, his carpets, the decoration
of his kalians, and sometimes in the laying-out of his
garden. A Persian's speech is picturesque and inter-
larded with apt quotations from Saadi or Hafiz, and he
is very proud of his native tongue, which Mohammed
is said to have promised should be the language of
Paradise. To an Englishman his conversation often
sounds profane, so frequently is the name of God intro-
duced. A Persian, for example, if asked to do any-
thing, consents by the word Inshallah (Please God),
encourages his horse with plentiful Yallahs (O God),
offers anything with the remark Bisniillah (In
the name of God), and intersperses a narrative with
many Alhamdolillahs (Thanks be to God) and
Mashallahs (God is great). Besides this he swears

8o PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

constantly by the Prophet, AH, or Husein. He has a
passion for discussing all subjects, religion being chief
among them, but as a rule is profoundly ignorant of
history and of the course of affairs in other countries.
Yet he is critical and sceptical, the type of mind that
has been productive of numberless heresies. The
foreigner conversing with educated Persians will often
be told that all religions are practically the same, the
Bible, the Jewish Torab, and the Koran being in com-
plete accord with one another. Fault, however, will be
found with the New Testament, as lacking in hukm, or
" command," a Mohammedan missing the copious set of
rules to fit all cases which are to be found in the Koran,
and which prevent all progress. Such Persians are apt
to pose as freethinkers, and are fond of saying that they
only visit the mosque and perform their devotions in
order to impress their servants. They will have no
objection to feeding with Europeans, though priests and
strict Moslems do not care to smoke the water-pipe
after a Feringhi has touched the mouthpiece with his
lips ; nor is an unbeliever admitted into the public
baths, being considered unclean.

But many of these Persians who boast of having out-
grown the tenets of Islam use their liberty as a cloak
for excess, and are not ashamed of giving way to
drunkenness, all Persians using the forbidden alcohol as
a means of getting inebriated.

The women are far stricter than the men, and a
Persian who had visited England complained that
his own mother would not feed or drink from any
article that her son had used, saying that he had
become a kafir (unbeliever), from his contact with
Europeans.

THE PERSIAN MAN 8i

The mass of the people as a rule dislike the
kafir, as they call the foreigner behind his back,
though they dub him a Feringhi (Frank, or French-
man) to his face ; and should a Christian force his
way into a mosque or a particularly holy shrine he
would possibly be torn to pieces by the crowd.
Indeed, so great is the intolerance that a Moslem who
changes his religion is by law condemned to death,
although the Persian is no proselytiser, in the twentieth
century at all events. In a case that came under the
writer's notice a Russian had had a dream in St
Petersburg, in which he saw himself converted to Islam
at Meshed, to which city he was going on business.
On his arrival he was admitted by the priesthood into
the ranks of the Faithful, but as he knew no Persian
or Arabic his knowledge of his new religion must have
been cursory in the extreme. The populace wondered
greatly at his conversion, because he gained no material
advantage by the step ; yet if at any future time he
were to revert to Christianity he would immediately be
liable to the death penalty.

This fanaticism crops out in many little ways, an
educated Persian with Western ideas saying that when
he visited the bazaars he was obliged to change his
usual European costume, even to his stockings, if he
did not wish to expose himself to disagreeable remarks.

Every traveller in Persia bears testimony that its
inhabitants look upon artistic perversions of the truth
as a fine art, any shame felt at being convicted of a
misstatement would be because the speaker was con-
scious of having played his part badly, and because
his statements, liberally garnished with oaths, had not
carried the conviction intended. Yet there is one oath

82 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

which binds all Persians — that sworn on the Koran
itself in the presence of a mulla, and deemed so sacred
that it is only had recourse to on very serious occasions.
The parties who are bound in this way, tremble with
awe, and hardly ever perjure themselves ; but the mere
swearing by the Koran, not in the presence of a priest,
means nothing at all, and it is significant that no oath
is taken in a Persian court of law.

The word of an Englishman is always implicitly
believed, and the writer was not unnaturally proud of
the fact until she learnt from Mr. Malcolm's ^ book that
Persians consider truth and honesty merely a matter of
climate, and that, owing to the atmosphere of England
her sons are constitutionally unable to lie !

Persians, in common with most Orientals, have not
a particularly high standard of honesty, and indeed the
custom of niudakhil, or commission, is not conducive
to its cultivation. Every servant takes his percentage
on all he purchases for his master, and all grooms,
unless watched, will steal part of the barley, keeping
the horses under their care on half rations : this is so
customary that the delinquents are deeply injured if
dismissed without a character. It sounds rather a
paradox, but with these reservations, Persian servants
are decidedly honest, and always take an interest in
the credit of the household they serve, rising splendidly
to the occasion when there is entertaining on hand.
But certainly their ideas on this point differ from ours,
and a Persian who visited England conceived an exalted
idea of British honesty, based on the fact that in the
London A.B.C. shops people actually paid their bills

* " Five Years in a Persian Town."

THE PERSIAN MAN 83

at the door instead of making a dash past the desk and
nto the street !

A nice trait in the Persian is his filial affection. A
son will hardly dare to seat himself in his father's
presence, and would never allow his parents to come to
want ; he is also indulgent to his children, but in many
cases looks upon his wife or wives as mere chattels.

Quick and clever as the Persian is, he is not fond of
severe mental labour, and the saying, " Knowledge is a
wild thing, and must be hunted before it can be tamed,"
is characteristic of the nation, few of whom exert them-
selves in the pursuit.

The European is often unpleasantly struck by the
lack of gratitude among the Persians whom he meets.
The servants, for example, will rush to him for medicine
and attendance if ill, imploring help with an impas-
sioned flow of rhetoric, but hardly deigning to mutter
a reluctant Iltefdt-i-shumd sidd, the equivalent for
" Thank you," when they have got what they want. Mr.
Malcolm,^ however, points out that the Persian con-
siders that you do him a kindness in order to obtain a
high position in Heaven for yourself, your savab or
" work of mercy " being your gift to God to wipe out
your sins, and, as it were, only one for the man you
benefit and two for yourself!

The writer cannot altogether agree with this theory,
because the Mohammedan Indians with whom she had
to do were always most grateful for any small kindness
shown to them ; and she is reluctantly forced to the
conclusion that ingratitude is an integral part of the
Persian character.

The Persian is not cruel as compared with other
^ " Five Years in a Persian Town."

84 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Oriental nations, though punishments for crime are
often very severe, and every governor has his red-
coated executioners in attendance. The usual punish-
ment is the bastinado applied to the feet of the highest
as well as of the lowest. Princes of the blood, viziers,
and grandees are forced to " eat sticks " if they are un-
lucky enough to offend the Shah ; irate masters inflict
the chub on their servants, and it is ready in every
school for the lazy pupil.

Cutting the throat is the common penalty for murder,
and the corpse will be left for several hours exposed in
the public square where the executions take place, to
act as a solemn warning to the populace. Such horrible
fates as being plastered up alive, being crucified, or
blown from a cannon are practically punishments of the
past ; but a petty thief is still liable to have his hand
severed, and thus be relegated to the miserable lot of
a beggar.

If the Shah wishes to remove any prince or minister,
poison will be resorted to, the Persians saying that
so-and-so was obliged to drink " a cup of Kajar
coffee."

A man arrested on suspicion of committing a crime
will not have an easy lot, as he will often be tortured to
force him to " confess," and he will probably be immured
in a dungeon without air or light and swarming with
vermin.

With regard to his treatment of animals the Persian
errs more from laziness and want of thought than from
actual cruelty. Mules and donkeys with sore backs
are forced to work ; pack animals usually fall in harness,
worn out with incessant toil ; and though a Persian is
proud of his horse, and feeds it well, yet he rides it with

THE PERSIAN MAN 85

a cruel bit, goads it with the sharp points of his shovel-
stirrups and would never dream of dismounting to ease
it if the going were bad.

The Prophet said on one occasion that every animal
would appear at the Resurrection in order to give
testimony for or against its owner ; but he neutralised
this salutary warning with the command that no animal
was to be killed save for food or for sport. This has
led to conduct revoltingly cruel to English ideas ; for any
worn-out animal, instead of being put out of its misery,
is given " the freedom of the desert," which means that
it. is driven away from its home to die of starvation
on the utterly barren Persian plains. In one case the
decrepit pet-dog of a Persian of rank was carried some
miles out of the town and left to perish, but to the
astonishment of all the little creature found its way
back to breathe its last at its callous owner's feet. Any
traveller is certain to come across camels or mules lying
beside the track in extremis, and his servants will
greatly object if he is humane enough to give them
their release, telling him that such an act will in all
probability evict a jinn, or a departed spirit, that will
wreak vengeance on those who have disturbed it.

It must be confessed that the typical Persian is not a
patriot, though he has a great fondness for his native
city, and as a rule much dislikes being exiled from it.
The proverb " Every man loves his own country, even if
it be hell," really means his own town ; this trait being
partly owing to the corrupt form of government, that
has looked upon Persia merely as a treasure-mine, to be
exploited by any one in power, and also to the isolation
of the different cities. All the principal towns are
several days' journey from one another, long distances

86 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

apart which have to be traversed by riding. Therefore
it comes to pass that the difficulty of communication
cuts off the cities from the national life, and forces them
to have their own organisation, and be self-centred,
much as were the towns of Europe during the Middle
Ages. Moreover, the inhabitants of every city are
credited v/ith special characteristics, the Isfahani being
prudent, thrifty, and avaricious, as contrasted with the
Shirazi, the Neapolitan of Persia, who is generous and
quick-tempered, a lover of wine, poetry, and gaiety, and
a passionate horseman. The inhabitants of Meshed
are said to be boorish, those of Kashan cowardly, and
so on.

It seems hard to dub the Kashanis cowards when
that failing is shared by so many of the Shah's subjects
— in fact the Persian proper is looked upon as the
reverse of brave throughout Asia, and is a braggart
to boot.

An English officer travelling in Iran once came
across a great party of pilgrims at the mercy of one
man, who was forcing his unlucky victims to disgorge
their money by threatening them with a pistol. The
Englishman covered the bandit with his revolver and
made him drop his ill-gotten gains and his weapon,
which latter was discovered to be not only unloaded
but so out of repair that it could not have been fired
off on any pretext ! The pilgrims were anxious to
wreak vengeance on their assailant as soon as he was
defenceless ; but this the officer did not permit, and
allowed him to retreat to the hills, after which the
caravan proceeded joyfully on its way, carrying the
broken pistol as a safeguard !

Yet the descendants of the men who hurled back the

THE PERSIAN MAN 87

armies of Rome again and again in the time of the
Parthian and Sasanian kings still exist, the Bakhtiari
and other nomad tribes, being splendid fighters, and
supplying the best troops in the Persian army. The
country has not lost her fighting material, but she
appears to have lost her leaders, the officers the writer
had the privilege of meeting being singularly deficient
in pluck and grit, and not at all ashamed of pro-
claiming the fact,

Morier's immortal " Haji Baba " depicts the Irani to
the life — so much so that a Persian gentleman to whom
the book was lent complained that it did not interest
him, because it was just what he and his acquaintances
did and said every day !

The Persian has his failings, certainly, but he is
intensely human, and therefore very likeable, and there
are few travellers who do not wish him and his country
well in the crisis that both are undergoing. A nation
that had a civilisation before those of Greece and
Rome, and is still keenly intellectual, will, it is to be
hoped, rise again, unless it is too heavily handicapped
by a bad government, lack of communications, and the
dead weight of Islam.

CHAPTER V
A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY

EVERY Persian city has some special feature that
distinguishes it from other towns. There are,
for example, the great square and mosque of Isfahan,
the ark, or citadel, of Tabriz, the leaning minar of
Kashan and the gold-domed shrine of Kum ; but all
these cities are more or less alike in their labyrinths
of narrow alleys enclosed with high mud walls, opening
out here and there into squares, and the bazaars are
all built on a fairly uniform pattern.

As Meshed, capital of the province of Khorasan, and
famous for its shrine, which is a centre of pilgrimage, is
a typical Persian city, some account of it and its sur-
roundings will give the reader a better idea of town
life than pages of general description.

There are two ways of reaching the Holy City from
England. One is to go by the Mediterranean and
Black Seas to Batoum, thence by the Transcaucasian
railway to Baku on the Caspian, crossing the inland
sea to Krasnovodsk, where the railway is again taken
to Askhabad, the Russian capital of Transcaspia.

The line passes by Geok Tepe, the scene of the great
massacre of the Turkomans by Skobeleff, and across a

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 89

barren steppe, intolerably hot in summer, to the gar-
rison town of Askhabad. Here the traveller starts off
on his hundred and sixty mile drive to Meshed, along
a road cleverly engineered by the Russians across the
mountain ranges, which separate Transcaspia from the
Plateau of Persia.

This is not a metalled highway, and even in fine
weather a four or five days' drive along it is not a
particularly agreeable experience, as the rock, cropping
out in places, and the boulders embedded at frequent
intervals, cause the strongly built victorias to jolt
horribly. A nervous traveller, moreover, will not
appreciate the speed at which the drivers take
their teams of four horses abreast round the sharp
zigzags.

The Persians have laid the last part of the road from
Kuchan, and in fine weather it is a rough and very
dusty track across the vast plain that begins as soon as
the Elburz mountains are crossed, and extends beyond
Meshed. A government concessionaire is supposed to
keep up the whole route from the Russian frontier, but
little or nothing is spent on repairs. Streams have
often to be crossed in order to avoid broken bridges,
and here and there long detours must be made, the
road proper being too dangerously broken up to use.
It can be understood that such a route is almost
impassable in a spell of rain or snow, and many are
the disasters that overtake the heavy fourgeons and
their willing horses during bad weather.

Another and quicker way of reaching Meshed is the
overland route by Vienna, Cracow, and Rostov to
Baku, where the Caspian is crossed to Krasnovodsk.
Here the Transcaspian railway can take the traveller

90 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

to Kakha, beyond Askhabad, from which station he
can ride a hundred miles by rough bridle-paths, across
the mountains, reaching Meshed from London in about
thirteen days. The high passes are, however, blocked
by snow during the winter, only being open at the end
of April ; and as there are no rest-houses and hardly
any villages on the route, mules are necessary to carry
the tents, baggage, and provisions.

Coming from Europe it is usual to approach the
Holy City by the Askhabad road, along which pass
the little victorias, the diligences and fourgeons of
the West, jostling the East in the form of strings of
solemn camels, jingling caravans of mules, donkeys
laden with firewood or manure, and wild men on wiry,
tireless horses, both riders and steeds looking as if they
had come from the Middle Ages. The gleam of the
golden-domed Shrine of Imam Reza can be seen far
across the plain, but is lost sight of as the traveller
drives through a suburb consisting of squalid mud-built
hovels. Then comes a long stretch of the castellated
mud wall of the city, which has towers at intervals, is
surrounded by an empty moat, and is pierced by some-
what dilapidated gateways, their pinnacles adorned
with glazed bricks. Here shabby-looking soldiers
armed with obsolete muskets will be on guard, their
dirty garments having hardly the semblance of uni-
forms, and their flat kolahs decorated with the badge
of the " Lion and the Sun."

Originally Meshed was entered by six gateways, all
of which are closed at sunset ; but not long ago a
seventh, a grandiose affair, was erected by the Russians,
to give their bank outside the city walls direct com-
munication with the town, and this step caused much

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 91

searching of heart among the Faithful, who looked
upon it almost as a sacrilege.

In what may be called the " West End " of Meshed
stands the ark citadel, where the Governor and his
troops live, its gateway opening on to the meidan,
where some obsolete cannon are ranged, and on one
side of which stand the Customs buildings, officered
by Belgians. A cobbled road leads past the square to
the British Consulate, and between the ark and the
city gate are houses and gardens occupied by the
small English colony, and by the khans, or gentry
of Meshed, the Russian Consulate being nearer the
town. This quarter is well planted with trees, which
give it a green look in spring and summer, and it may
be called the material force of the Holy City, for here
are the Governor in his citadel, ill-clad soldiers, and
some dozen cannon. The magnificent group of build-
ings constituting the Mosque and the Shrine may be
looked upon as the spiritual force of Meshed — the very
heart and soul of the city.

These holy places, alas, the Unbeliever is only
allowed to see from a distance, as he rides round the
city walls, or mounts some roof to get a glimpse of the
golden dome of the Shrine with its attendant gold-
topped minars, and the beautiful tilework on the great
porticoes of the Mosque.

The sacred buildings are surrounded by a great
enclosure, within which no unbeliever or animal may
pass, and this region is called bast, or sanctuary. Evil-
doers of all kinds used to be perfectly safe when once
they had reached these precincts, and as most of the
best shops are in the bast, refugees were wont to live at
their ease and make good terms for themselves from

92

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

their retreat. It is, however, annoying to the traveller
passing along the Khiaban, or principal street, to find
his way stopped by an archway through which he may
not venture, and in the bazaars by a great chain under
which he may not pass.

But each day as he rides outside the city he will see
the Mosque and the Shrine from some new aspect, yet
nearly always backed by ranges of hills often purple
and rose-tinted. At early dawn in the winter, the many-
coloured tiles will faintly gleam through the semi-dark-
ness, and a few hours later the golden dome will be
shining with an almost unbelievable splendour under
the rays of the Persian sun at noon, the metal with
which it is covered never tarnishing in the dry climate.
If the storm-clouds are gathering over the mountains,
and the sky is black with threats of rain, the appearance
of the dome will become almost sinister, turning to a
copper-red against its angry background, and seeming
to be all that is left of a city wreathed in mist and
gloom.

Again, in the " after-glow " of sunset, which throws a
glamour as of magic over the mud walls and squalid
hovels of the city, the Shrine built in honour of the
Imam Reza, and the Mosque, the work of a dead
queen, stand up, airy and unsubstantial, throbbing with
a soft rose-light like some wonderful vision revealed to
the elect for a space, and then reft away for ever. But
enough has been said to make the reader understand
that this splendid mass of buildings is the great feature
that dominates the landscape. It is impossible to be
indifferent to them, and after awhile the eye turns to the
majesty of their construction, to the fine blues and
yellows of their tilework with a sense that they and

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 93

they alone are Meshed, and that all else is maya, or
illusion.

In front of the Mosque is a piece of ground railed
round with a stone balustrade, and the Persians tell how
when Gohar Shad began to build her fine monument, a
poor widow refused to sell this little Naboth's vineyard.
The queen, in great contrast to the usual Oriental
potentate, declined to press the matter, and to this day
the small enclosure in the sacred precincts goes by the
name of "The mosque of the poor woman."

Professor Vambery ^ who, disguised as a dervish,
visited the holy places, speaks of the Shrine as inlaid
with gold, its walls hung with jewellery, weapons of
great value, and carpets with precious stones woven into
their texture, the tomb of Imam Reza being enclosed
in a silver trellis-work which the hundreds of pilgrims
kissed with fervour as they passed round it muttering
prayers. Gorgeous as is the Shrine both inside and out,
Vambery infinitely preferred the Mosque from the
standpoint of architectural beauty, and its magnificent
tilework is hardly surpassed in Asia.

Fraser,2 on his visit to Meshed some forty years
earlier than Vambery, was taken into the Shrine dis-
guised as a Persian, but would have met a violent
death had he been found out. As he was most anxious
to make a sketch of the Sahn (the magnificent court-
yard), and the adjoining Mosque, he actually pretended,
later on, to be a convert to Islam, repeating the
kalma, or confession of faith, before a body of
witnesses, in order to gain his point. However, the
fanaticism of the populace prevented him from enjoying
the privileges purchased at such a price.

^ " Early Adventures." ^ " Journey into Khorasan."

94

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Eastwick,! who in the 'sixties had a glimpse of the
Imam Reza from an upper alcove of the great quad-
rangle of the Shrine, might have lost his life, as he
relates that the whole of Meshed was in an uproar the
next day, saying that the sacred body of the Imam
had been defiled by the by no means near presence of
the Englishman.

Not long ago a French lady-traveller, staying for a
short time in the Holy City, purchased a Persian
woman's dress, and the idea spread through the town
that she intended to penetrate into the Shrine in this
apparently secure disguise. A Persian gentleman told
the writer that such an attempt meant almost certain
death, for the visitor would be met by a group of seyids
as she entered the sacred building, and one would con-
stitute himself her guide, reciting to her the customary
prayers in Arabic that she would be obliged to repeat
after him, and telling her where to prostrate herself.
As the Feringhi had no knowledge either of Persian
or Arabic, nor of Oriental customs or genuflexions, she
would have speedily betrayed herself to her conductor,
and the crowd, rendered savage by fanaticism, would
have torn her to pieces.

The pilgrims who visit the saint's last resting-place
in thousands, obtain the title of Meshedi for their
devotion, and the poorest will often spend the earnings
of a lifetime in such an undertaking. Sunnis from
Turkey, Afghanistan, Bokhara, and Samarkand wor-
ship here with the Persian Shiahs, but must walk
humbly in the stronghold of what they consider to be
the unorthodox faith.

This great influx of pilgrims leads to a considerable
' " Three Years' Residence in Persia."

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 95

trade in Meshed to supply their wants, and the tra-
vellers, following a Persian custom, are in the habit
of taking to themselves sigehs, or temporary wives,
during their stay. This custom, sanctioned by the
Church, for a inulla is called in to marry the
couple for as many days, weeks, or months as may be
desired, is common throughout the country, and is a
potent factor in the degradation of the womanhood of
Persia.

The city of Meshed (Place of Martyrdom) owes its
very existence to the Imam Reza, in whose honour the
Shrine was erected. According to Persian tradition
this descendant of Ali who lived at Tus was taken into
high favour by the Khalif Mamun, son of the illustrious
Harun-al-Rashid, was given the Khalif's daughter in
marriage, and was designated as his successor to the
Khalifate. As happens so often in the East, an intrigue
was started against the Imam, and Mamun's jealousy
being aroused, he resolved on the death of his innocent
son-in-law, and it is said offered poisoned grapes to him
with his own hand. After the victim had partaken of
the deadly fruit, feeling that he was doomed, he rose to
leave, and on the Khalif inquiring where he was going, he
answered, looking at him with reproach, " I am going to
the place where you have sent me." At the present
day pilgrims are shown, embedded in the wall of the
Shrine, the plate on which is supposed to have lain the
poisoned grapes ; and as the devotees pass round
the tomb of the saint, kissing the lock of the grating
that encloses it, they call down fervent curses upon both
Mamun and his father Harun, the latter being buried
close to the Imam Reza.

Whether this legend be true or not, it is known

96 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

that the Eighth Imam died in the ninth century at
Tus, the old capital of Khorasan, and was buried in
the garden of Sanabad where the Khalif Harun was
already interred. His tomb became a place of pil-
grimage at once, and after the sack of Tus by Mongol
hordes in the thirteenth century, those of the inhabi-
tants who had escaped massacre betook themselves
to the garden-shrine round which the present city of
Meshed has grown up.

Early in the fifteenth century Shah Rukh gave
rich gifts to the sanctuary, and completed the fine
mosque that his queen had begun to build. But the
Uzsbegs from the north looted the city again and again,
despoiling the Shrine of its treasures, and it was not
till 1598 that Shah Abbas, whose rule in Persia is
looked upon as a Golden Age, recaptured the city
from these raiders. He then repaired the sanctuary,
covered its dome with plates of copper overlaid with
gold, and adorned its fine fagade with splendid tile-
work, in order to encourage his subjects to expend
their enthusiasm and their money in Persia rather than
in Arabia. Henceforth it became the Mecca of the Shiah
world, and though of course the tomb of Ali at Nejef,
ai^d Husein's shrine at Kerbela had prior claims to
sanctity, yet patriotic and pious Persians contented
themselves with rendering honours to the Imam
Reza.

In the troublous times after the extinction of the
Sefavi dynasty, Meshed changed her rulers often, and
again and again the Shrine was despoiled of its
jewellery, china, rare manuscripts, and gold, until, in
1818, Fath Ali Shah gave the city some years of
peace, and at last, in 1848, Nasr-ed-Din Shah subdued

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 97

the almost independent province of Khorasan, and
gave large offerings to the burial-place of the Eighth
Imam.

The space round the Shrine is one vast graveyard,
people paying from ;^io to ;^ioo for the privilege of
interment within its precincts. And this season of
rest is not of very long duration ; for as soon as the
inscription on the flat stone, which forms part of a
great pavement is defaced by the myriad feet of pil-
grims, a fresh corpse will be laid in the grave, and
the stone re-cut for the new-comer. Indeed Meshed
is almost as much a city of the dead as of the living,
for every open space seems to be covered with flat
tombstones. And when there is no more room inside
the walls, the graves lie in thousands outside, riders
and pedestrians taking short cuts across them ; and
these cemeteries are said to be haunted by huge rats
of such ferocity that the grave-diggers are forced to
wear long leather boots as a protection against
them.

The custom of laying the dead to rest among the
living, as it were, is in order that the passers-by may
say, " God grant you peace and a dwelling in Paradise
with the Prophet." Such crowded burial-grounds and
the habit of disturbing them, would probably lead to
epidemics in any other country ; but the pure, dry
air of Persia apparently acts as an antiseptic, the
Meshed children looking healthy enough in spite of
the absence of all hygienic precautions and a water-
supply by no means above suspicion. Persians affirm
that nothing can ever be wrong with running water,
and do not object to the women washing their clothes
at the spot where the water enters the city ; and

98 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

they also say that the contents of a receptacxc
holding more than fifteen gallons of water cannot be
impure, scoffing at the idea that the tanks used for
ablutions in front of their shrines may possibly be
disseminators of disease.

Next to the Shrine and Mosque, the Khiaban, or
Avenue, made by Shah Abbas, is a distinctive feature
of which all the inhabitants of Meshed are proud.
This is the main street of the town, over a mile and
a half in length, down the centre of which runs a
narrow canal, said to contain the water that the poet
Firdawsi's daughter gave to the city of Tus, and
which was afterwards carried on to Meshed. Here
men drink and perform their ablutions, and the
women wash soiled garments in the stream, which
is bordered by plane-trees and crossed at intervals
by rickety-looking bridges. On either side of this
promenade are booths and many a tea-shop. This
latter institution answers in a way to the English
public-house, so much so that in the winter of 1907
the women of Meshed went in a body to the Governor
of the city begging him to close the tchai-khanas^
on the plea that their husbands spent all their earnings
there. Tea is the national drink of Persia, owing to
centuries of intercourse with China, and the tea-shop
is the club of the middle and lower class Persian,
where he can talk to his friends or listen to the song
of a caged bulbuL Here the public story-teller finds
an audience, and sometimes the lutis will give a
performance of music and dancing. For the traveller
there is the interest of watching the passing along of
many nationalities, the inhabitants of Meshed them-
selves being rougher in looks and manners than those

Bii

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 99

of other towns of Persia, and showing the admixture
of Turanian blood in their broad faces, high cheek-
bones, and in many cases their red hair and fresh
colouring. From the Khiaban is an entrance to the
covered-in alleys of the different bazaars, which are lit
and ventilated by large holes placed at intervals
in the brickwork of the vaulting. The pushteen-
makers are working at the picturesque coats of sheep-
skin which defy all weathers, the wool being worn
next the person, and the skin embroidered with
yellow silk in beautiful designs. Further on men are
repairing old carpets so wonderfully that the darns
are only visible when the back is examined, and
there is a noisy quarter where the brass-wrokers are
hammering and turning out samovars, graceful ewers
with long spouts for rose-water and utensils for
household use. Elsewhere the processes of bread and
sweetmeat-making are being carried on in full view.
Amid hideous patterned modern carpets, silk em-
broidery of the crudest colouring, masses of shoddy
clothing and third-rate crockery are old bits of
carved and painted work which could not be produced
nowadays, or perhaps a scrap of a Turkoman saddle-
bag looking like velvet from constant use, or an old
damascened weapon, the gold still gleaming from its
background of rusty steel.

The bazaars are a disappointment to the European
who wants to pick up old carpets and good turquoises;
and when his road is barred by a heavy chain it is
annoying to be told that the best shops are all in the
bast, where no unbeliever may visit them. However
he cannot fail to be interested in the life surging
round him. Swarthy, hook-nosed Afghans in white

loo PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

garments and turbans ; Bokhariotes in striped silk
coats ; Turkomans and Kurds in huge sheepskin caps ;
merchants in tightly folded embroidered turbans and
brown abbas (clokes) ; seyids (descendants of the
Prophet) with green or blue-black headgear and waist-
cloths ; all go about their respective business. Perhaps
a holy mujtehid (high priest), with long beard and
flowing robes, will pass along, seated on an ass, and
the crowd will reverently make room for him as he
goes on his way. The women, closely shrouded in
their black chadars, look more like spectres than
human beings, as they glide by, and impart an ele-
ment of mystery to the haggling, gesticulating
crowd.

Amid all the hurly-burly of buying and selling the
European will be haunted by a familiar aroma of which
perhaps he was first aware in the bazaars of Smyrna
or of Constantinople, and which he will meet throughout
Asia. There is in it a hint of spices, of attar of roses,
of burning wood, and of fried meat ; in summer the
fruit-stalls play their part, mixed with an odour of
humanity and animals, not to speak of open drains.
But whatever its component parts may be, when the
traveller who has " heard the East a'calling " sniffs it, he
knows that he is back once more in the land that has
captured and held part of his soul, and for which he has
hungered half-unconsciously amid the settled life and
comfort of the West.

Like most Persian towns, Meshed gives an impression
of being coloured in different shades of khaki, the word
meaning the colour of earth or dust (Persian khak),
and has little of the " gorgeous East " about it, apart
from the Mosque and Shrine. The high walls, broken

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY loi

by wooden doors leading to the jealously hidden
dwellings, are made from the same mud as the roads,
and only better-class buildings are plastered. Though
the townsfolk may be clad in black or blue with black
lambs'-woolihats, yet the prevailing dust gives them a
dingy appearance ; and in winter the felt and sacking
clothing of the peasants is of the same tone as the soil
on which they work. Grey donkeys stagger along the
cobbled lanes laden with sun-dried mud-bricks or great
piles of dun-coloured camel-thorn, and in and out slip
the dust-coloured, mangy pariah-dogs. These sca-
vengers of the town make night a pandemonium with
their barking, and are, with reason, looked upon as
unclean animals by all good Mohammedans. Here
and there is a row of stalls with a very meagre stock-
in-trade of groceries ; or a baker's shop with the
long, damp, thin, brownish cakes of bread stuck on
nails ; or a fruit-stall, a mass of colour. Despite the
narrow alleys (one cannot call them streets except
by courtesy), sheep will be tethered in front of the
shops, or rather booths : a fighting ram with great
black, curled horns is fastened at a corner ; and a
couple of camels may be seen lying on the ground,
completely blocking the way, and meditatively chewing
a meal of chaff laid in front of them.

The dervishes are usually to be found where the people
congregate most. They are striking-looking figures in
white garments of dubious cleanliness, with leopard skins
flung over their shoulders on which flow their long,
unkempt locks from under a conical felt cap, often em-
broidered with texts. Sometimes they carry a begging-
bowl, beautifully carved, and they go from place to place
telling fortunes, giving charms and love-potions, and

102 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

professing to cure sickness with their nuffus, or sacred
breath. This they accomplish by blowing three times on
the afflicted part, and reciting the Fatiha. Although
there are learned dervishes, and poets among their
ranks, yet many are lazy, impudent beggars addicted
to opium, who demand alms from all they meet, and
get free board and lodging and the best seats every-
where as a right, the pious saying that " God provides
their kitchen." They are much to the fore during the
month of Muharram, forming processions in which they
strike and cut themselves as a sort of advertisement
of their holiness ; and at the No Ruz, or New Year,
they pitch tiny tents at the doors of persons of rank,
and make ridiculous little gardens of pebbles and twigs
in the dust of the road just as children would do. They
then keep up an incessant braying with cow-horns,
yelling at intervals Ya Hak ! Ya Hu ! (" Oh Truth !
Oh He ! " — meaning God), this zeal obtaining for them
a handsome present from the owner of the mansion.

And roaming about the streets of Meshed may be seen
an old seyid who constitutes himself censor of public
morals. If he meets a man with unshaven head and
shaven beard, he beats him with the small stick that
he carries. This he will also apply to the back of
any man whom he sees strolling along munching
a cake of bread — the reason of this being that no one
should eat before performing his ablutions, and that
the food should be laid on a cloth. Moreover, he
reproves any woman who dares to uncover her face
in the streets. The inhabitants of Meshed look upon
this somewhat eccentric character as a saint, and those
who are ill call him in to pray over them, believing that
marvellous recoveries have been effected by his prayers.

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY 103

In the poorer parts of Meshed the courtyards of the
houses are all below the level of the street, a custom
which makes the dwellings very damp if the winter
be a wet one ; and heavy rain is a real calamity, as
many of the flat mud roofs are certain to fall in. When
there is snow every one shovels the mass from his
roof into the street — a simple method rendering the
narrow lanes almost impassable until the thaw comes.
The cobbled streets have no names, and the houses
no numbers ; but the whole city is divided into wards,
and every one is supposed to be in his house by ten
o'clock at latest.

As there are no workhouses in Persia, the beggars
have to shift as best they can, and it is a pathetic
sight to see them huddled up on the wooden counters
of shops, covered with a piece of sacking during the
cold of a winter's night when the thermometer may
register 5° to 11° Fahrenheit. It is not surprising
that many die from the exposure, in spite of the com-
forting Persian saying that God gives much cold to
the well-clad, but little to those who lack clothing.

The traveller riding round the city walls is struck
by the very primitive manner in which they are roughly
patched, the inhabitants having been terrified by a
recent Turkoman raid into repairing their defences. Just
outside the gates he will notice great heaps of manure
that are left for some time in the open before being
used on the land, Persians sitting among them when
they "eat the air," and apparently callous to their
odours. Unsightly brick-kilns, with huge, untidy stacks
of yellow bricks, are a blot on the landscape ; near
by are hundreds of broad, earthenware hoops used
in kana^-making, scores of kuzehs, or pitchers, stand-

104 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

ing beside the public highway waiting to be baked,
also piles of stones to be burnt for lime are dumped
down at haphazard. Here and there flows a small
stream, and the busy washerwomen spread garments of
many colours to dry on the kanat mounds ; or the water
is being used by the dyers, and runs crimson or indigo
as the case may be. By the public shambles a crowd
of fierce pariah dogs come bounding out, barking
savagely, and at this point a flock of sheep is standing,
and brisk bargaining going on between the shepherds
and the butchers, or great heaps of wool are being
examined by would-be purchasers. Not far from here
long strands of scarlet and blue worsted used in carpet-
making are being strained against the city wall, and
further on is the tanners' quarter with hundreds of
skins hung out to dry. Stately Khorasan camels hold
their heads high as they stalk solemnly past, laden with
great bales of cotton and wool, or perhaps with oil and
hardware from Russian territory. Sometimes the leader
of a string of these animals may carry a huge plume of
brown wool which stands erect on the back of the
pack-saddle, and looks much like the nodding feather
ornaments of a hearse, giving the caravan a curious
appearance when seen from a distance.

Everywhere there is dirt and squalor, and to the
European eye nearly everything is badly in need
of repair ; the so-called road is a track broken in
places ; the so-called bridges over the streams are
often unsafe for horses to negotiate, and repellent-
looking beggars seem to appear at every few yards
The reader may say that the glamour of the East is
conspicuous by its absence. But if he saw the scene
under a heaven of deep turquoise blue and lit up by

A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED THE HOLY

105

a sun that gilds and beautifies the meanest details,
transforming a mud-built village into a picturesque
fortress ; and if he drank in an air perhaps unsurpassed
for its purity and invigorating qualities, he would be in
the mood to look for beauties and not for defects, and
would fall a victim to the mysterious spell of the " Land
of the Lion and the Sun."

CHAPTER VI
THE ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED

THE Holy City of Meshed lies at the broadest part
of the valley of the Kashaf Rud, long ranges of
mountains, peak rising behind peak, bounding the wide
plain on either side. Tracks, worn by the feet of count-
less caravans that have passed through the centuries,
cross and recross what is one of the most fertile districts
of Persia, and in the spring the wide stretches of land
under cultivation are green with crops of wheat, barley,
millet, lucerne, beans, and opium. The greater part of
the ground is irrigated, and water is carried from the
hills by means of kanats, the shafts used in the boring
of these subterranean watercourses being dotted all
over the plain. In the course of years, the mouths of
these great circles of earth fall in, and assume alarming
dimensions, one close to the city being capable of
engulfing a carriage and pair with ease as it lies beside
the rough track frequented by all who drive.

Some five miles to the north of the town the river
runs, much encumbered with mud shoals, that in some
places are white with salt-efflorescence and in others are
hidden by great masses of rushes, the haunt of wild
duck and teal. It is a sluggish stream of no great width
as it winds across the plain, its name appropriately

JAGHERK VALLEY

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 107

signifying a tortoise. In the hills are rushing torrents
with charming villages on their banks which are a
beautiful sight in spring-time when the cherry, peach,
apple, pear, nectarine, and apricot-trees are in full
bloom.

The most picturesquely situated of these is Jagherk,
its name having the ominous meaning of " Place of
Drowning." It is some twenty miles distant from
Meshed, and as the stream foams and swirls among the
boulders, big poplar groves dispute with the fruit-
trees for every foot of ground on its banks, and lush
herbage strewn with flowers grows to the very edge
of the water, reminding one of the Austrian Tyrol,
and the resemblance is borne out by the frown-
ing peaks that enclose this Happy Valley. The
villagers in bright blue cotton coats with white shirts,
turbans, and cmnmerbands, are a pleasing contrast to
the dingily attired townsfolk, and sometimes a dandy
will appear in a costume of royal purple, or another will
wear a mauve shirt with embroidered collar and indulge
in a coat of an artistic raw-sienna shade of cloth. Many
of the children are as rosy as those in England, yet it
is said that the inhabitants of Jagherk and the other
villages in the narrow valley suffer much from fever and
eye-complaints. Indeed, to live where the houses are
huddled so closely together that it is possible to walk
over nearly the whole village on the roofs, where the
few lanes are ankle deep in dirt, and where drainage is
practically non-existent, cannot be healthy ; but it is
unfair to malign the beautiful climate when the illnesses
are owing to man's mismanagement.

Such of the English as are able spend the hot
months in this valley, and the children come back to

io8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the town bronzed and vigorous as from a trip to an
English seaside.

To return to the immediate environs of Meshed, the
most striking object about a mile from the city is Kuh-
i-Sangi, a curious double hill, from the top of which
can be obtained a fine view of the Mosque and Shrine,
and under which is a much-frequented tea-house and
little sanctuary. The track leading to these is the
promenade of Meshed, and carriages and riders go up
and down it on Fridays and holidays, the horsemen
careering madly about and often racing one another.
Legend says that Ali told the Persians to quarry for
stone in these twin-hills. His advice, however, has not
been acted upon, for the quarries proper are in the hills
behind, and are merely narrow passages in the flanks of
the mountains, the stone being all cut out by hand,
without the aid of blasting, and carried into Meshed on
the backs of the patient donkeys. Stone is therefore
expensive, and in consequence nearly all the buildings
are made of sun-dried bricks that crumble away with
the passing of the years.

Not far from Kuh-i-Sangi is a stretch of desert used
by the English for polo and golf, the " greens " of the
latter game being composed of grey sand slightly
different in colour to the prevailing dun of the plain.
Persians do not appreciate the "egg game," as they
designate it ; but the polo played by the English and
the escort of Indian sowars is one of the sights of the
city.

Major Sykes,! who reintroduced the old national
game of Persia both at Tehran and Meshed, believes
that gu-i-chogan, as the Persians call polo, was played
' " Ten Thousand Miles in Persia."

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 109

in Iran from prehistoric times, probably being in vogue
before 700 B.C. He points out that although the earliest
reference to the game is in the Pahlavi history of
Ardeshir, yet Firdawsi in his " Book of the Kings "
gives a vivid account of a match in which a legendary
hero, who lived before the dawn of history, was the chief
player.

Under the Sasanian dynasty, so popular was the
game that, according to the poet Nizami, ladies played
it. He gives a highly picturesque account of a match
which Khosru Parvis and his wife, the beautiful Shirin,
attended, the Shah being so charmed with the exhibi-
tion that he insisted on joining in and knocking about
the ball with these " fairy-faced ones."

In Mohammedan times Sir Anthony Sherley, when
at the Court of Shah Abbas, early in the seventeenth
century, and Chardin somewhat later, both witnessed
and wrote descriptions of the game ; but after the
Sefavean dynasty, Persia became such a prey to anarchy
and invasion that polo died out, and unfortunately there
seems no likelihood that it will ever be revived by the
Persians themselves.

Across the plain of Meshed at frequent intervals are
mud-built towers that were used some forty years ago
to protect the shepherds from the raids of the Tekke
Turkomans. These terrible " men-stealers," as they were
called, were accustomed to ride a hundred miles a day
on their tireless steeds, their object being to take the
luckless, and, it must be confessed, cowardly Persians as
prisoners, and sell them for slaves in the markets of
Khiva and Bokhara. Vambery ^ gives a vivid account
of the utter panic into which a large caravan of pilgrims
' " Life and Adventures."

no PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

escorted by soldiers armed with rifles, would fall, did
they see a few horsemen galloping towards them. The
weapons would be thrown down and every one, soldiers
included, would tamely submit to be herded into
captivity without striking a blow to avoid what they
knew was a miserable fate, their captors treating them
with a brutality which passes description. On one
occasion Vambery met a Turkoman who on foot and
alone had actually made prisoners of three Persian men,
driving them before him for eight miles into slavery !
If kept by these nomads to herd their flocks, the captives
would be half-clothed and half-starved, and at night
would be tethered to a stout wooden staple by a chain
which they were forced to drag about with them all day.
M. de Blocqueville, a French photographer in the
employ of Nasr-er-Din Shah, was captured by these
barbarians, who routed the Imperial troops, and he was
kept in slavery for a year and a half before the Shah
paid the exorbitant ransom demanded for him.

Travellers such as Ferrier, Fraser, and Eastwick
show how the Turkomans terrorised the whole of
Khorasan, and Persia owes a debt of gratitude to the
Russians who, under Skobeleff, rid the northern pro-
vinces of these raiders ; although the General's whole-
sale massacre of the tribe when he took their great
fortress of Geok Tepe sounds like an echo from the
times of the Mongol invasion rather than modern
warfare. Even at the present day the Turkoman spirit
is not entirely quenched, and in the December of 1907
the Kurdish troops had an encounter with them not far
from Meshed, the soldiers returning in triumph and
bearing thirty Turkoman heads on poles which were
paraded through the city.

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED iii

The British Government has utilised the energies
of some of these nomads by forming them into
a postal service to carry the mails between Meshed
and India, officials of the Amir of Afghanistan
taking the letters over at Herat and being respon-
sible for their safe convoy to India, One of these
sowars, Reza by name, is really a Persian, having
been stolen in childhood by the Turkomans and
living with them until he was grown up, when an
uncle, employed by the British as a muleteer during
a Boundary Commission, recognised his long-lost
nephew. Reza then became a postal sowar, and
usually meets at Askhabad any English travellers to
Meshed, being able to turn his hand to anything —
an invaluable quality when " on the road " ; and,
moreover, is of such a cheerful, garrulous, friendly dis-
position, that he is a prime favourite, in spite of his
brigand-like exterior.

Just outside Meshed there rises in lonely grandeur
one of the few monuments remaining to testify to the
munificence of the Sefavean dynasty. This is the
Musalla, or Place of Prayer — a lofty brick portico once
faced with beautiful tiles, the pattern of which is
identical with those on one of the entrances to the
Mosque. Now, in common with most old Persian
buildings, it has fallen into a ruinous condition,
though it is used occasionally as a place of inter-
cession when storm, famine, pestilence, or war are
dreaded, the people making a pilgrimage to it at such
times.

Here also on the Festival of Gadir a camel is killed,
a needy Persian prince collecting alms to purchase the
animal, which is adorned with gay trappings, and its

112 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

flesh is distributed amongst the populace when the
sacrifice is consummated.

The design of the Musalla shows the striking dif-
ference between Gothic and Oriental architecture. A
Gothic cathedral is beautiful viewed on all sides; but
as a rule, a mosque, however fine may be the grouping
of its dome and minars, must be surveyed from a special
standpoint. The great portico of the Musalla is im-
pressive when seen from the front, but is an ugly mass
of brickwork at the back and sides. The method, more-
over, of covering large parts of a building with tilework
is hardly satisfactory, however beautiful it looks when
perfect, because if the tiles drop out in places an
immediate effect of neglect and decay is given.

The only monument near Meshed in fairly good
repair is the shrine of Kwajah Rabi, some five miles
to the north of the town and charmingly situated in a
garden planted with trees. On the gateway is an
inscription declaring that the sanctuary was erected
by Shah Abbas in 1621, the sovereign calling himself
the " King of the Kings of the World," " the Sovereign
of Mankind," and so on, but with a touch of humility
adding that he is after all a mere " Dog of the Porch
of Ali."

Below all this verbiage is a modern inscription invok-
ing a curse on the man who does the least injury to
the shrine or to the trees surrounding it ; but this has
not been much of a deterrent, for many of the finest
planes in the avenue leading to the sacred building
have been felled, and the dome and portico themselves
have been stripped of their best tiles. Everything is
allowed to go to ruin ; the brickwork has many a gaping
crack and the handsome blue, purple, yellow, and

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 113

black glazed bricks which adorn the porticoes, together
with the tiles, are sadly in need of repair.

Inside, fortunately, all is much as it was when Shah
Abbas prayed here. A broad turquoise band of tile-
work, on which are verses from the Koran in white
lettering, runs beneath the spring of the stencilled
dome, and at a height of some four feet from the
ground, round the entire building, is some of the
most beautiful tilework in Persia, These kashi are
grounded alternately in purple and turquoise-blue,
relieved with white designs, outlined with a brown so
lustrous that it gives the gleam and impression of
gold.

Under the lofty dome, in a large, red, wooden box,
rest the remains of the saintly Kwajah Rabi, the com-
panion of AH, son-in-law of the Prophet, and on the
wall of the sanctuary runs an inscription saying that the
Imam Reza made the pilgrimage to Meshed, solely
to pray at this tomb. Little did the Imam then think
that above his own grave there would rise a shrine the
most magnificent and renowned of all Persia, and that
Kwajah Rabi's blue dome would be left to fall into
decay and be only visited at rare intervals. One reason
for this is that the Sunnis claim the saint as theirs, and
send their dead to be buried round his resting-place.
But as Kwajah Rabi was a personal friend of AH, and
lived in the days before Shiah and Sunni came into
being, it seems a little hard that he should owe his
unpopularity to this cause.

The environs of Meshed do not offer much to the

sportsman, but some of the English are in the habit of

shooting snipe and teal in the marshes, or duck by the

river during the winter. On such occasions it is

I

114 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

necessary to rise in the chilly darkness that precedes
the dawn, as the best shooting ground lies some twelve
miles from the town. If snow has fallen recently, the
cobbled, narrow lanes of Meshed will be scattered with
hummocks of frozen snow, making it advisable to dis-
mount and stumble over them on foot, rather than on
horseback. At this early hour hardly any one is to be
seen, and the few poor people afoot have muffled up
their heads in many wraps, though in all probability
their feet are only protected by cotton shoes ; and the
Khiaban, the Piccadilly of Meshed, is almost deserted.
Some twenty minutes' walk, the last part of the way
being through the squalid dwellings of the poorest
quarter of the city, brings the party to a gate sadly in
need of repair, and here every one mounts. Though the
roads are slippery, and ice-covered pools must be
carefully avoided, yet the sun is rising higher into the
heavens every moment, warming the world and melting
the frozen slush. Once free of the graveyards and the
broken ground round the city, the horses begin to
canter along the tracks still covered in places with snow,
and at last reach a dry watercourse with high cliffs
rising on either side of what was once the bed of a
broad stream. (The Persian word for river, rudkhana,
means the " house " or bed of the stream, from the fact
that the water itself is so often conspicuous by its
absence). Crossing this nullah and ascending and
descending slippery slopes of mud, a long valley or
rather frozen swamp is reached, intersected by a stream
from which branches many small rivulets. On either
side are low, reddish-coloured hills, and it is wet
walking, for every one now dismounts, the sportsmen
plunging into the rough reeds and sedges covered with

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 115

thin ice that breaks promptly and lets them into the
water below. A wisp of snipe (nuk-i-diraz, long beaks, as
the Persians call them) fly up and are stalked, and some
duck and teal fall to the guns. One of the grooms, a
most intelligent and active beater, implores the Sahibs
to shoot a couple of beautiful green-legged bittern, that
he says will be excellent eating for himself and the
escort, and whenever a bird is dropped he rushes
forward with his knife to cut its throat, muttering the
formula that makes it halldl, or fit for food. A fox-
terrier, quite as keen and almost as intelligent as
Shahbaz, leaps into the water after any lost bird, often
putting up others as he hunts in and out the reed-
beds.

After four or five hours' tramp, during which the
sun has become quite hot, though the exhilarating air
wards off any fatigue, the long valley has been beaten
from end to end, and the party mount and ride a couple
of miles to the spot where lunch and a change of boots
and stockings are waiting for them. The food eaten
in the open tastes excellent, the roads are now almost
free of frost, and it is possible to canter the whole
way back to the city to the luxuries of hot baths and
tea.

This same valley about the middle of March will
resound with the songs of birds, flocks of larks will
soar jubilantly into the sky, and the ground will be
sprinkled with almost stalkless mauve crocuses while
the tiny scarlet tulips should be about to burst into
bloom. Lizards, black spiders, ants of an abnormal
size will be busy with their several avocations ;
herds of sheep and goats will crop the herbage
encrusted with salt in place of ice, and cattle

ii6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

will plough the red loam on the crests of the low
hills.

Some sixteen miles from Meshed, on the banks
of the Kashaf Rud lies Tus, the parent city of the
present capital of Khorasan, and where the Imam
Reza breathed his last. It is a charming ride on
a spring day along the well-worn tracks "made by
Allah," as Persians put it, and across the fertile
plain, green with springing crops, where the oxen
engaged in ploughing give a touch of life to the wide
expanse bounded on all sides by mountain ranges.
Huge mounds, all that is left of Khaka, the oldest
city of the valley, are passed; and some four miles
away stands the ruined shrine of Tus, the fragments
of its citadel and its broken-down walls being
distinctly seen in the radiant clearness of the atmo-
sphere. The mediaeval capital of the province is
approached by a " camel-backed " bridge, sadly out
of repair, and the traveller is astonished to find
that a circumference of little over four miles of
mud-built wall encloses the ruins of a city once
famous throughout Asia for its poets, astronomers, and
philosophers, among whom dwelt Firdawsi, the great
epic poet of Persia. Chinghiz Khan and his savage
Mongol hordes sacked the city in the thirteenth century
and decimated its inhabitants, who gradually took
refuge in Meshed round the tomb of the Imam Reza.
There is little enough of Tus to-day to recall its
departed glories. The shrine, built of fine brickwork
and adorned with charming stucco, is a picturesque
ruin, and there is no indication in whose honour
it was erected, the inscription on its plaster- work,

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 117

"The world lasts but for an hour," being singularly
appropriate.

Fraser/ who visited Tus in 1821, speaks of the
interior of this shrine as being perfect. However, at the
time of the writer's visit in 1908 its walls were partly
broken through, though it still made a fine concert-hall
for a young Persian with a high falsetto voice. He was
singing beautifully in the Oriental mode with many a
shake and trill which echoed and re-echoed through the
ruin. Listening to him stood a group of handsome
youths in turbans and flowing cloaks, holding the
bridles of their spirited horses, adorned with the
gayest of trappings ; and behind them, through a
ruined arch, could be seen snow-capped peaks standing
up against a turquoise heaven, the whole forming a
picture that would have delighted an artist.

The remains of the minar, fifteen or twenty feet of
which was standing in Eraser's day, have now totally
disappeared, the fine brickwork having probably been
taken for building purposes ; the ruins of the old
citadel built on an artificial mound, and consisting
of an inner and outer stronghold, both surrounded by
moats, have shared the same fate, the peasantry
carrying off the crumbling sun-dried bricks to be used
as manure for the crops.

Fraser speaks of a dome ornamented with tilework
and standing near the gateway, having been pointed
out to him as the tomb of Firdawsi. This building,
however, is not to be seen at the present day; but
close to the little village that nestles in a corner of
the old city wall, is a mound of debris littered with
scraps of tile that the peasants say is the grave of the
^ " A Journey into Khorasan."

ii8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

great epic poet. It appears that some forty years
ago a literary governor of Khorasan wished to erect
a fitting monument over the last resting-place of the
" Homer of Persia," but the site of his grave could not
be found. At this crisis a seyid had an opportune
dream, and on awaking he declared that the spot
shown to-day by the peasantry had been revealed to
him in this vision, and on it the governor accordingly
commenced a dome, which he never completed, and
which is now a mere mass of rubble. Certainly Persians
care little, as a rule, for the last resting-places of their
illustrious dead; but in this case they are not to blame,
because the old chronicle relates that the great poet
was buried in a garden belonging to him, outside the
city walls.

And as the traveller returns to Meshed, leaving
behind him only unsightly ruins with never a trail of
ivy or a creeper to hide their nakedness, and beautify
them as in Europe, he reflects that the road along
which he canters is much as it was in the Middle Ages.
On either side the same crops, the same primitive
method of ploughing, the same species of marmot, that
scuttles into its burrow with a sharp squeak at the
approach of the horses. And around him the same
mountain ranges coloured in many shades of purple,
amber, and sienna, the high peaks behind them covered
with snow until April showers her own snow in the
form of blossom on the myriad fruit-trees of the valley.

The famous turquoise mines of Nishapur can hardly
be considered to belong to the " environs " of Meshed.
As, however, that city is the headquarters of the only
gem to be found in the country, and as the firuza
(the name meaning victory) is looked upon as a power-

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 119

ful amulet, being worn by every one who can afford it,
some account of the mines may be of interest.

They are about three days' journey from Meshed,
and are supposed to have been worked from
Achsemenian times. Major Sykes, who visited them
in 1908, says that they are difficult of access, no ladders
being used, and the visitor being obliged to hoist
himself up and down the shafts by sheer force of arm.
No machinery whatever is employed, the miners
chipping off the hard stone with chisels. In the rock
itself are found the best kind, the sangi (stony),
which, when deep blue and flawless, will fetch very
high prices. The other kind, the khaki (earth)
stones, are found by washing the soil, and are usually
pale and specked with white. Connoisseurs are able to
tell at a glance from which special mine a stone has
been dug. The turquoises are found in groups between
the layers of matrix, and the matrix itself is often cut
and polished if the blue in it predominates over the
black. Tiny " seed " turquoises are discovered in great
numbers, and are used for ornamenting pipe-heads,
amulet boxes, and even harness, being of such small
value that a hundred can be purchased for sixpence.
In buying turquoises it is as well to call in the assist-
ance of an expert, for the sellers are in the habit of
keeping the stones moist, in order to deepen their
colour. Pale and worthless stones are often ornamented
with gold devices, and are stuck on the ends of short
sticks for sale, looking attractive when new, but soon
acquiring a greenish tint. The workers in the mines
are searched when their daily task is over, but it is said
that many of the best turquoises are concealed and sold
by the miners ; and indeed the temptation must be

120 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

great, when a moderate-sized stone will easily fetch ;^30
to ^40 if of a deep sky-blue and without a flaw. These
stones acquired their European name from the fact that
they were first introduced into the West by way of
Turkey.

Riding in the neighbourhood of Meshed it is not
unusual to meet a gruesome caravan of mules laden
with corpses which have been sent from different parts
of Persia to be buried near the shrine of the Imam
Reza. The coffins, fastened up in sackcloth, are in
the charge of the muleteer, who has been given the
burial-money to hand over to the authorities of the
Shrine. It is said that these charvadars, usually marvel-
lously honest, are occasionally tempted by the large
sums given them beforehand, to drop the bodies into
some ravine on the road and there leave them to their
fate. And indeed this is hardly to be wondered at, for
the odour of a " caravan of the dead " during the hot
weather is terrible.

This is how Professor Vambery ^ describes a m{d-
night encounter with such a caravan : —

" It consisted of about forty animals, horses and
mules. The backs of the animals were laden with
coffins, and we made every effort to avoid the dread
procession. In passing near one of the horsemen who
had charge of the caravan, I caught sight of a face
which was frightful to look at. The eyes and nose
were concealed by some wraps, and the rest of his
lividly pale face looked ghastly by the light of the
moon. ... At some distance from the caravan of the
dead, I glanced back at the strange funeral procession.
The animals with their sad burden of coffins hung their
' " Life and Adventures."

m^

ENVIRONS OF A PERSIAN CITY— MESHED 121

heads, seemingly trying to bury their nostrils in their
breasts, whilst the horsemen, keeping at a good distance
from them, were urging them on with loud cries to
greater speed. It was a spectacle which, seen any-
where, could not fail to produce a profound impression
of terror, but seen in the very centre of the desert at
the dead hour of the night, in the ghastly illumination
of the moon, it could not fail to strike the most intrepid
soul with awe and terror."

CHAPTER VII

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF
PERSIA

PERSIA is a Mohammedan country, but it must
not be forgotten that Zoroastrianism, commonly-
known as Fire Worship because its followers took the
sun and fire as symbols of the Deity, was the religion of
the land until the fall of the Sasanian dynasty, conse-
quent on the Arab invasion in A.D. 641. Its followers
still survive in some thousands, though they have
undergone every kind of persecution since the Moslems
conquered them.

At that period and later many Zoroastrians migrated
to India, where they were called Parsis {i.e., inhabitants
of Persia). Here they prospered exceedingly, and are
now doing something to help their co-religionists in Iran.
At the present day the Zoroastrians, called Gabrs or
infidels, are chiefly to be found at Tehran, Yezd, and
Kerman, but all over the country they are in request as
gardeners. This is probably because of their belief that
tilling the soil is a good action.

Zoroaster, the founder of the old national religion of

Persia, was a great religious teacher, in the same rank

as Buddha, Confucius, and Socrates. Professor Williams

Jackson,^ the latest authority on this subject, believes

' " Zoroaster," by Professor Williams Jackson.

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 123

that he was probably born near Lake Urumiah in the
province of Azerbaijan, about B.C. 660.

He belonged to the tribe of the Magi, who were
supposed to be the depositories of learning in those
days, and it is said that he retired from the world for
some years of religious preparation before he entered
upon his ministry at the age of thirty, having then
received the first of seven revelations from Ormuzd, the
Principle of Good, whose symbol was fire. His creed is
that man must fight throughout his life against Ahriman,
the Principle of Evil ; but that he will be helped in his
struggle by Ormuzd, and if he prevails he will attain
eternal life at the Resurrection. It is the exact opposite
to the creed of renunciation and quietism, with the
absorption into Nirvana preached by the Buddha ; there
is no trace of asceticism in it ; and it has a clarion note
of struggle and reform that ends in victory. Yet, while
to-day Buddha has millions of followers, those of
Zoroaster are not a hundred thousand all told, and his
religion practically never spread beyond the confines
of the Persian Empire,

When the Median Prophet began to preach his
mission, he only gained a single convert after ten long
years of effort, during which he was encouraged to
continue by visions from heaven. Then success came
far above his expectations, for Vishtaspa, King of
Bactria (the King Gushtasp of the Shahnamd), was
converted, and the new religion spread rapidly, pene-
trating into Turan, or Tartary, as well as throughout the
Persian Empire, Zoroaster preached his doctrines
indefatigably. He founded fire temples wherever he
went, installed mobeds, or priests, to tend them, and
instructed them in the elaborate ritual that he had

124

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

instituted. But the King of Tartary, the hereditary
enemy of Persia, would not suffer the old idol-worship
to be destroyed without striking a blow in its favour.
He and his Tartar hordes invaded Bactria, stormed
Balkh its capital, and killed Zoroaster who was offici-
ating in the fire temple. This contemporary of Thales
and Solon, and the forerunner of Confucius and Buddha,
is supposed to have died at the age of seventy-seven,
and his death gave an impetus rather than a check to
his doctrines. The gallant Isfundiar, son of King
Gushtasp, was filled with the zeal of a Crusader for
the new religion, and defeated the King of Tartary,
after which Zoroastrianism became the national faith,
and flourished greatly until the conquests of Alexander,
and later on the rule of idol-worshipping Parthian
sovereigns dealt it heavy blows. In A.D. 226 King
Ardeshir, who founded the Sasanian dynasty, made
Zoroastrianism again the. State religion of the land.
He collected the scattered fragments of the Zend
Avesta (the Parsi scriptures) and the Gathas or
Psalms, the oldest part of the Avesta, written by
the Prophet himself and containing his teachings.
The complete copies of the sacred works, written
on tanned ox-hides, had been burnt or dispersed
when Alexander had set fire to the palace at Persepolis
where they were kept. Priests, however, were found
who had handed on the worship from one to another
during centuries of neglect and persecution, and the
teaching of the Median Prophet was again supreme in
Iran until the Mohammedan conquest in A.D. 641
practically exterminated it.

Zoroaster declared that the ancient gods were only
devils, but that Ormuzd was to be worshipped

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 125

alone. Good thoughts, good words, and good actions
were the goal of every believer, who wore a three-
fold cord round his waist to signify this, unfastening
and refastening it three times daily at the hours of
prayer.

Earth, fire, and water were not to be polluted, as they
were the work of the Deity, and fire in particular was to
be reverenced, no Gabr^ for example, ever smoking.
The Zoroastrians of Yezd at the present day claim that
the flame which burns on the altar of their temple, has
never been extinguished since it was lit in the life-
time of Zoroaster. Their priests always approach it
with a cloth over their mouths lest their breath should
pollute it, and wherever a new fire temple may be
erected, its altar is lit from that of Yezd. To make the
sacred flame it was necessary to bring to the same
hearth sixteen different fires. Some of these were used
in various trades, and one came from the burning of a
dead body.

The Zoroastrians hold the dog in high esteem as
being sacred to Ormuzd, and it is a crime to kill or
injure one of these animals that are supposed to have
the power of driving away evil spirits. The "four-eyed"
dog of the Avesta is still common in the north of
Persia, and was so named from having a yellow patch
above each eye : it was white with yellow ears and
yellow markings on its body. This animal is called in
to decide v/hether a Gabr be dead or not, the belief
being that if the dog eats a piece of bread laid on the
breast of the corpse, its action proves that life is
extinct.

The dead man is laid out by men appointed to the
office, Zoroastrians so greatly dreading the defilement

126 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

that ensues from touching a corpse that the dying are
often left untended in their last moments. The body-
is then carried to a Dakmeh, or " Tower of Silence,"
where it is exposed to be devoured by the vultures and
crows, as it would pollute the earth if laid in the ground.
Zoroastrians hold that if the birds pluck out the right
eye first the soul of the departed has been safely guided
over the Bridge of Chinvad to the realms of Ormuzd, to
live for ever in the Paradise of the Blessed. If, however,
the vultures decide to remove the left eye, the survivors
fear that the soul has been hurled from that narrow
bridge of inquiry, down to the gloomy kingdom of
Ahriman, where are only bad thoughts, deeds, and
words.

Close to the Tower of Silence is usually a mud-built
house in which the relatives of a dead man prepare a
meal, affirming that the soul, just after its separation
from the body, is always greatly in need of nourish-
ment, as it is believed to wander for three days near its
earthly tenement.

The Zoroastrians, who chiefly survive at Yezd and
Kerman, are a fine, manly-looking race in spite of the
petty persecution of centuries. The Persians make
them wear a peculiar dress, do not allow them to ride
in the towns, force them to dismount if they meet any
Persian of rank outside the city wall, and do not
permit them to carry umbrellas, among other irritating
restrictions.

As polygamy and divorce are forbidden by their
religion, the women have a much better position than
their Moslem sisters, and it is rare for them to marry the
followers of the Prophet. The poorer women look
picturesque in gay chintz jackets, full trousers em-

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 127

broidered in many-coloured stripes, and half a dozen
wraps for the head, the fifth being a graceful white veil
flowing down the back, and the last a big cotton sheet
with which they envelop themselves when out of doors.
The little girls wear a small coif from which the hair
falls in long plaits, but the women would consider it
immodest to show their heads without their numerous
coverings.

The ordinary people have the vaguest ideas about
their religion. The writer's Parsi maid, for example,
used to extinguish candles with her fingers in order not
to pollute the flame with her breath, and was horrified
at hearing that her mistress had visited the Tower of
Silence, explaining that she herself would be hopelessly
defiled did her garment but brush against its wall. She
always refused to wash anything on a Tuesday, saying
that it would never be cleansed ; and she attached a
white shell to any possession she feared to lose, affirm-
ing that it was an infallible charm. She was devoted
to her employer and of a transparent honesty ; but the
Persians say that all Gabrs are honest, because they
lack the courage to steal ! Would that the Irani were
afflicted with a like timidity !

The Nestorian Church comes next in point of
antiquity in Persia, the followers of its founder estab-
lishing themselves in Iran soon after the Council of
Ephesus (431 A.D.), at which the doctrines of Nestorius,
the Patriarch of Constantinople, were condemned, and
he himself excommunicated and banished.

It is, however, believed that Christianity had many
adherents early in the fourth century, and that its
followers joined the Nestorian Church. This body

128 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

flourished exceedingly in the sixth century, had
bishoprics throughout Persia, and was so filled with
proselytising zeal that it sent missonaries into China
and India, with the result that Marco Polo, travelling
in the thirteenth century, found Christians throughout
Asia.

Early in the fifteenth century Tamerlane almost
extirpated the remnant of Christians which had sur-
vived the Arab conquest and the Mongol invasions, so
that at the present day there are only some twenty-
five thousand Nestorians, who are principally to be
found in the district of Urumiah where their Patriarch
resides.

There are altogether about ninety thousand Christians
in Persia (Nestorians, Armenians, Greek, Orthodox,
Protestants, and Roman Catholics) and some thirty-six
thousand Jews, who are looked down upon and perse-
cuted, and who supply the ranks of the despised class
of lutis or public dancers, singers, and entertainers.
They are expected to undertake dirty work of every
kind, and by no means uphold their European reputa-
tion for financial ability, being invariably worsted in
trade by the Armenians, of whom Persians say, " If you
can deal with an Armenian, you can deal with the
devil himself"

Three centuries ago Shah Abbas transported some
thousands of Armenians en masse from Julfa on the
Araxes, to a suburb of Isfahan (which he named after
their native city) in order to teach their handicrafts to
the Persians. Since then, in spite of persecution, they
have never given up their religion. As they have inter-
married among themselves they have kept their original
type, their women in scarlet dress with a white cloth

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 129

thrown over the head and concealing their mouth and
chin being a pleasant contrast to their black-shrouded
Persian sisters.

The authorities are tolerant to all faiths since the
residence of Europeans in Persia ; but the populace is
now and again stirred to fury by the mullas against the
kafirs, or unbelievers — and, indeed, the Armenians are
not favourites in Iran owing to their business capacity
and their reputation of being grasping and avaricious.

And now we come to Islam, the national religion of
Persia, which her children were forced to embrace
when conquered in 641 A.D. during the Khalifate of
Omar.

The Persians, partly from hatred of their conqueror
and partly because Ali's son, Husein, is said to have
married the daughter of their last Sasanian monarch,
joined the Shiahs (Followers of Ali) when Islam was
split up into the two great sects of Shiah and Sunni,
and at the present day Omar is burnt in Q^^y through-
out the kingdom with an accompaniment of fireworks
and popular execrations. This matter, however, is
treated more fully in the chapter on Muharram.

Mohammed, the Prophet of Arabia, elevated his
countrymen greatly by the religion he founded, his
doctrine that there is but one God delivering them
from a degrading idol-worship that permitted the
murder of their infant daughters and other horrible
practices. As he found both polygamy and slavery
among the Arabs he can hardly be blamed for not
reforming these customs ; but he still further degraded
the position of women, although many writers assert
the exact contrary to be the case. In the words of Sir

130 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

William Muir,i a wife " was possessed of more freedom
and exercised a greater, a healthier, and more legitimate
influence under the pre-existing institutions of Arabia
than under the sway of Islam " ; and again, "As regards
female slaves under the thraldom of Mahometan masters,
it is difficult to conceive more signal degradation of the
human species."

Mohammed claimed to be the successor of Moses and
of Christ and to be greater than either ; and his followers
believe that the Koran was delivered to him in detach-
ments by the angel Gabriel and that there is not a
single word in it which is not of Divine origin. The
sacred character of this book is so strongly impressed
upon Moslems that they would look upon it as blas-
phemy to think that any part of it could be the work of
a man ; no one would dare to touch the revered volume
before performing his ablutions, and the most shifty
believer would regard an oath taken upon it as binding.
The Prophet called his religion Islam, which means
" Resignation to the Will of God." He taught that
those falling in battle in its defence would go straight
to one of the seven heavens prepared for Moslems,
whatever may have been their past lives ; but that any
apostate would be consigned to the seventh hell, lower
than that peopled by Jews and Christians. This belief
rendered the warlike Arabs perfectly fearless in battle,
and accounted for their marvellous early conquests.
With it was bound up the doctrine of Predestination,
impressing on a man that his fate is marked out for
him and that, strive as he may, he cannot alter it.

Mohammed also taught that prayer wafted the
believer half-way to heaven, fasting assisted him to
' " Life of Mahomet,"

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 131

the gate of Paradise, and almsgiving took him within
the sacred precincts.

Perhaps it is not possible for a European to criticise
an Oriental religion fairly, yet to the writer, on whom
at first Islam made a favourable impression, it seems to
have led its followers into a kind of stagnant moral
backwater where progress appears to be impossible.
The belief in kismet (destiny) encourages a dreary
fatalism, its exponents shrugging their shoulders at
whatever goes wrong without making any effort to
right it, and prayer has sunk into a mere formula,
an "empty repetition." Dean Stanley says that "it
is reduced to a mechanical act as distinct from a
mental act, beyond any ritual observances in the
West. ... It resembles the worship of machines rather
than of reasonable beings."

Travellers in the East have often commented on the
way in which a Moslem will spread his prayer-carpet
and perform his devotions unabashed in the sight of the
world and have held this up as a worthy example to
European reticence. Certainly there is something fine
in this open profession of faith ; and yet when the
stranger observes how a Persian will constantly inter-
rupt his devotions for a few words with a friend, and
will glance at anything passing by, he may not be so
greatly impressed ; indeed, the habit of praying in
public must militate against concentration of thought.

As an example of this is a quotation from Mr. East-
wick's I account of a visit he paid to the Imam Juma, or
high priest, of Meshed, a man revered by the fanatical
populace for his sanctity and for being a seyid, or
descendant of the Prophet. The holy man was at his
" " Three Years' Residence in Persia."

132 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

devotions, but notwithstanding sent a servant to bid his
visitor enter. The Imam Juma was kneeling on his
prayer-carpet, on which were some books and a comb
for his beard. " ' Talk,' he said ; ' do not mind me.' I
said I would rather not talk while prayers were going
on. He said, ' Oh, I thought your heart would be dull ;
that's why I told you to talk.' I said, ' Excuse me,
I shall not be dull. I would rather not talk till you
have done praying.' So he went on praying, bowing
and prostrating himself, also coughing and spitting
and combing his beard and occasionally saying, ' How
d'ye do ? ' to persons who came into the room. This
lasted for more than half an hour. . . ."

Eraser I in his travels notes much the same thing.
" However men may be occupied when the set hour
for prayer arrives," he writes, "those who choose to
observe it merely turn aside from the rest, still laughing,
perhaps, at the last ribald jest, and commence their
invocation to God. During the intervals they continue
the conversation, scold or give orders to their servants,
comb their beards or adjust their persons, frequently
interrupting their expressions of praise or of devotion
to give vent to the most trifling or perhaps the most
obscene remarks."

The rosary, or tasbih, is used by all Mohammedans
for counting the ninety-nine attributes of Allah ; for
reciting various acts of devotion ; and for purposes of
divination. It consists of a hundred beads, and is
supposed to have been borrowed from the Buddhists,
there being no record that the Prophet and his earliest
followers used it : in all probability the Crusaders intro-
duced it into the Christian Church.

^ " Journey in Khorasan."

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 133

Fasting is practised from sunrise to sunset during the
whole month of Ramazan, no food or water passing the
lips nor kalian being smoked, and it is believed that
those who die during that time are secure of paradise.
This enibrced abstinence presses lightly on the rich,
who sleep all day and feast and pay visits to one
another all night ; but the poor are obliged to work until
midday, and if Ramazan happens to fall during the
heat of summer, the want of water is a cruel deprivation.
As the Mohammedan year is a lunar one, Ramazan will
fall annually about eleven days earlier than it did in
the preceding year.

Mothers with young children, girls and boys under
ten and twelve, and really delicate men and women
are granted a dispensation from the fast ; and many
Persians are in the habit of going on a journey during
the month in order to secure immunity. With these
exceptions all Moslems must submit to this month of
abstinence or be looked upon as unbelievers and risk
excommunication by the priests, and ostracism, if not
worse, from their neighbours.

In the town cannon fired at dawn and sunset
announce the commencement and end of the day's fast ;
and during Ramazan most of the shops in the bazaars
are shut, and business is more or less at a standstill.
The pious often " meet " Ramazan, as they say, by
commencing to fast some days earlier than is necessary.
Sir W. Muiri points out that it was winter when the
Prophet first instituted this fast, and that in all
probability he intended it to be kept at the same
season ; for though the Arabian year was lunar, yet the
Arabs corrected it by a system of intercalating one
' " Life of Mahomet."

134 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

month into every three years. This system Mohammed
overthrew later, and it is a wonderful testimony to the
power of Islam that its followers all over the globe
should still keep Ramazan as strictly as in the early
days of the Faith, whatever may be the sufferings they
undergo from thirst.

Almsgiving is, as we have seen, highly commended,
and the Prophet is said to have deprived himself of
everything, save the necessaries of life for himself and
his wives, to give to the poor. There are of course
plenty of charitable Moslems ; but it often seemed to the
writer as if Persian almsgiving were a form of " laying
up merit," a guarantee against risks both here and in
the world to come. For example, every one going on a
journey gives money to the beggars in order to ensure
the prosperity of the undertaking ; yet no effort is made
to reclaim these miserable creatures, nor is money spent
on hospitals, orphanages, or education for the destitute.
It is a greater savab (act of merit) to give to a
drunken seyid than to the most deserving beggar.

Before the end of the world the Mahdi, the last of the
Twelve I mams, is to appear, and inaugurate a millennium,
and this doctrine has been fruitful of much trouble, as
it has encouraged the rise of countless False Prophets
throughout Islam, who have attracted followers to their
standards by their claims to be the long-expected
Saviour.

The angel Israfil blows the last trumpet at the
Mohammedan Day of Judgment, which is supposed
to last over half a century, and which will be preceded
by the coming of Antichrist, who will be slain later
by Jesus. Persians, however, affirm that their beloved
Ali will rout the false Christ and the horned devils

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 135

attending- him, with the aid of his famous two-bladed
sword Zulfakar. At this time all the dead return to
their bodies, the eyes of men and women moving to
the tops of their heads in order that they may not
see one another, but only Allah and the heavenly hosts.
The angels, who have kept an account of their deeds
on earth, then weigh them in balances, and if the evil
outweighs the good the man or woman is cast into
hell ; but if the reverse, he or she is given the choice
of a material paradise or of returning again to earth.

On this occasion all the animals will rise up and
bear witness as to how their owners have treated them,
after which they are annihilated ; and the wicked, who
are reserved for eternal torments, will beseech Allah of
His mercy to turn them into dust likewise ; but their
prayer will be offered in vain.

The whole social structure is based on the re-
ligious law, and the Persian priesthood, as a rule,
uses its influence against progress and the spread of
education. Any man who can read and interpret the
Koran can act as a mulla. If he is able to expound
the shar, or religious law, the people will flock to
him for judgment and give him the title of mujtehid^
or chief priest, his decisions, if he has a high reputation,
being regarded as final.

The Government does not usually appoint these eccle-
siastical dignitaries, but often gives the guardianship of
an important shrine, such as that of Meshed, to a Court
official as a reward. Nadir Shah seized the endowments
of the clergy to pay his soldiers, thus dealing a blow at
their power from which they have never recovered.
The mullas conduct the services in the mosques, teach
and recite the Koran, preach, visit the sick and

136 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

write letters, and in the villages their fees are paid
in kind.

The numerous holidays that help to keep Persia a
poor country are all, with the exception of No Ruz,
associated with their religion, chief among them being
the Eed-i-Kurban, or Feast of Sacrifice, which the
Prophet instituted in imitation of the great Jewish Day
of Atonement, Mohammedans say that it com-
memorates Abraham's sacrifice of Ishmael, erroneously
imagining that he, and not Isaac, was about to be
offered up by his father. At this festival the head of
each family takes a cow, sheep, goat, or camel, and
turning the head of the creature towards Mecca, he
repeats over it a religious formula and then slays it,
dividing its flesh among his family, his relatives, and
the poor.

There is also the Eed of Ramazan, the end of the
long month of fasting, and this is naturally a season
of rejoicing for all, at which time it is incumbent on
the Faithful to give money to the poor.

Salutes of cannon, brass bands playing out of tune,
and official receptions take place in all Persian cities
on the festival of the Haj, when the pilgrims who
have arrived at Mecca receive the coveted title of
Haji.

The way by land to the centre of the Moslem faith
is long and arduous ; and it may happen that a Persian
caravan of pilgrims fails to arrive in time to present
the offerings of sheep at the great holocaust at the
Kaaba, in which case all their toil, time, and money
will have been expended in vain. Although there is
much real piety connected with this pilgrimage, yet it
is said that some go to Mecca in order to use the

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 137

sobriquet of Haji as a business speculation. People
imagine that a man must be wealthy to undertake
such an expensive expedition, and therefore, sometimes
to their cost, lend him money readily.

These are only a few of the Persian festivals that
seem legion to the European, who is frequently in-
convenienced by the constant closing of the bazaars
and work of all kinds coming to a standstill.

The entire life of a Moslem is ordered by a religion
that encloses him in a network of observances — a religion
that takes away his individual responsibility and that
has become for most of its adherents a barren form.
And what are the fruits of Islam ? It destroyed idol-
worship with much gross superstition, and taught the
pure doctrine of one infinitely perfect God to whom
all must surrender their wills. But on the other hand
the Koran degrades family life, in fact makes it almost
impossible, by its encouragement of polygamy, divorce,
and slavery ; and it also forbids any religious freedom,
death being the penalty for apostasy. Islam is, in fact,
a set of rules, which proceed from a God with whom
man can never come into contact, but whose Prophets
proclaim His will. No Moslem consequently must
ever criticise the Prophet, and must accept every word
in the Koran as divine, thus yielding up all personal
responsibility ; and a Persian will see no great harm
in dishonesty and immorality, as long as he performs
his religious observances.

. Such a creed bars the way to progress and liberty,
and its adherents cannot attain to a true civilisation,
for its cast-iron framework admits of no expansion.

Here a word must be said as to the missionary work

138 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

done in Persia, The American missionaries have
practically taken over the north of the kingdom, the
English sphere of influence being from Julfa, the
suburb of Isfahan, southwards, with centres in Yezd
and Kerman, and there are also Roman Catholic
missions. Tourists say that the missionaries confine
their efforts to reclaiming the often degraded Nestorians
and Armenians, and that their converts from Islam
are conspicuous by their rarity. As the penalty by
law for apostasy from that creed is death, it would be
surprising if conversions were numerous ; but the writer
believes that the missionaries by living among the
people, by giving them medical aid, and by holding up
a high standard of life and morals, have an influence
for good that cannot be estimated. The mere fact that
men and women are devoting their lives to helping
others who are not of their own race or religion, works
powerfully on many minds, and a rough muleteer
spoke of one lady missionary, known throughout Persia
for her medical skill, in the following words : " Allah
in His mercy has sent an angel to Iran in that He
allowed the ' Khanum Mariam ' (Lady Mary) to dwell
in the land and heal us and speak good words to us."

A Persian acquaintance who was educated by the
missionaries never lost an opportunity of affirming that
he was a convinced Mohammedan and had only
attended the school in order to imbibe Western
learning.

Yet those years of training had left an ineffaceable
mark on his character. He had grasped in a way
unusual with his countrymen the meaning of truth and
patriotism ; he hated the intolerance of the priesthood
and was an ardent Nationalist, looking to the Majlis

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 139

to inaugurate the Millennium for Persia and sweep
beggary out of existence. Though he maintained that
the British Constitution, which he regarded with an
ignorant admiration, was based on the Koran, yet he
ruefully complained that there were many " dark
passages " in that sacred book, and that his female
relatives looked upon him almost as an unbeliever for
having hinted this to them. In fact, owing to missionary
influence, he had climbed to a higher level than those
around him, and it is to him and to his fellows that
Persia must look for regeneration.

The Persians made a long and stout resistance to
their Arab conquerors, and even when they yielded
to the fierce armies of Islam and gave up the doctrines
of Zoroaster for the Koran, they never received the
Prophet's teachings in the simple, unquestioning way
in which the uncivilised Arabs had done. Almost from
the first they employed their subtle intellects in debat-
ing this point or that until heresies and false prophets
without number arose.

Among the latter Al Mukanna, immortalised by
Moore in " Lalla Rookh " as " The Veiled Prophet of
Khorasan," is probably the only one whose name will
be familiar to the ordinary reader.

This man, who is said to have been a fuller at Merv,
gave out, about A.D. 780, that he was an Incarnation of
the Deity. Thousands of credulous Persians flocked to
his standard, and the armies of the Khalif fought
against him in vain for the space of fourteen years, after
which they besieged and took the fortress wherein he
and his followers were holding out. Their victory was
an empty one, however, for they found nothing but dead

140 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

bodies as they burst through the gates, the adherents
of the False Prophet having taken poison, and he
himself having died on a funeral pyre in order that the
people might believe that he had left them but for a
season, and would reappear as he had foretold. Every
legend about Al Mukanna speaks of the mask, or veil,
which he habitually wore to conceal a countenance of
surpassing ugliness ; but the reason he himself gave was
that he covered his face in order not to dazzle his
disciples with its effulgence.

There is also the tradition that he caused a "false
moon" to rise from a certain well, which was visited
night after night by crowds of people anxious to see
this remarkable phenomenon. It gained for him
hundreds of converts, and the " Moon of Al Mukanna "
is mentioned in two Persian poems, such an impression
did the Veiled Prophet and his dramatic death make
on his own and succeeding generations.

Sufism and Babism are the two heresies about which
Europeans in Persia hear most.

The Sufis, or Mystics, are those who do not take the
words of Mohammed literally, but give them a so-called
spiritual interpretation ; and they came into prominence
in the time of Ismail Shah, the founder of the Sefavean
dynasty. Sufism is more a philosophy than a religion,
and several of the most celebrated poets of Iran, such as
Hafiz, are supposed to be singing of divine mysteries
in their songs of love and wine. Though there are
seekers after truth in their ranks, yet many writers
affirm that the Sufis use their mystical creed as a veil
for excess.

Professor E. G. Browne,^ however, speaks of them as
* " A Year among the Persians."

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 141

akin to the Quietists and Quakers, and says : " It is
indeed the eternal cry of the human soul for rest ; the
insatiable longing of a being wherein infinite ideals are
fettered and cramped by a miserable actuality. It is in
essence an enunciation more or less clear, more or less
eloquent of the aspiration of the soul to cease altogether
from self and to be at one with God."

The sect of the Babis is so remarkable that many
hoped that it might vivify the dry bones of Islam.

From the works of Lord Curzon^ and Professor
E. G. Browne,2 the latter of whom has made a special
study of this subject, we learn that the founder of
Babism, Mirza Ali Mohammed, a native of Shiraz, was
given to religious meditation and went on pilgrimages
from an early age. At the age of twenty-four he pro-
claimed himself to be the Bab, or " Gate," by which
his followers might attain salvation ; and throughout
Persia he was hailed as the Mahdi, the long-expected
Twelfth Imam.

His doctrines spread so rapidly that the Government
and priesthood became alarmed, and imprisoned him
at Shiraz. From that city he escaped to Isfahan,
where the governor protected him ; but on the death
of his patron he was again consigned to a captivity
which only ended with his death. On his way to
the fortress where he was to be immured, village after
village on the route poured forth its inhabitants to
greet him with the wildest enthusiasm ; his adherents
rose at Yezd and in the province of Mazanderan ; and
the inhabitants of Zanjan defended their town against
a Persian army with marvellous bravery. The beautiful
poetess Kurratu 'l-'Ayn spread his doctrines far and
' " Persia." " A Year among the Persians," etc.

142 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

wide, until her tragic death at Tehran ; and it seemed
as if the status of women would be raised, for they
were to be considered equal with men, were to throw
off their veils, and polygamy and divorce were to be
abolished.

The Bab, however, was shot at Tabriz in 1850.
Strangely enough, he actually escaped unhurt after
the soldiers had fired at him, the bullets having merely
cut the cords that bound him ; and the cloud of smoke
concealed his flight. His hiding-place was soon
discovered, and he was dragged forth and done to
death. His adherents were suppressed with terrible
cruelty, and their attempt to assassinate the Shah
resulted in sanguinary massacres in which, almost
without exception, they met death and torture with
unflinching heroism.

If the Bab had escaped, in all probability Persia
would have been converted to his doctrines en bloc, and
would have emerged from the petrifying influence of
Islam into a liberal atmosphere where progress was
possible.

At his death his followers split up into two factions,
one following Mirza Yahya, whom the Bab had desig-
nated as his successor, and the other Beha Ullah the
half-brother of the new Gate. Beha soon asserted his
claim to be " He whom God shall manifest," and gave
out that his revelations were superior to those in the
Bayan, or Bible, composed by the Bab during his
imprisonment ; and at the present day his successor
is regarded as the head of the Babi faith, and his
adherents visit him in his retirement at Acre.

Almost up to now the Babis have been persecuted
at intervals, the last popular outburst against them,

ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGIONS OF PERSIA 143

engineered as usual by the priesthood, occurring at
Yezd in 1903, when many were slain.

It is difficult to know whether the movement is
gaining ground or not, as its followers naturally
keep their faith a secret ; but the standard it sets up
is so high that it is to be hoped that in time it may
become a power in the land.

Many look upon the latest development of Babism,
Behaism as it is called from its founder, as one of the
great religions of the world, and they affirm that it
numbers its adherents by millions.

Beha Ullah asserted that he was the last Manifes-
tation of the Deity, and, as such, included in his own
person the teachings and powers of Zoroaster, Moses,
Buddha, Christ, and Mohammed. There is no cere-
monial or priesthood in his religion, which inculcates
love toward all men, equality of the sexes, a universal
language, and peace throughout the world.

Beha Ullah himself died in 1892, but his son carries
on his work, and at the present day European and
Oriental men of every nation and belief meet at Acre
to sit at the feet of Abbas Effendi, the Master, as they
call him, and imbibe his teachings.

CHAPTER VIII
MUHARRAM

THE month of Muharram (meaning sacred) is
to the Mohammedan world what Lent is to the
Christian — a time of mourning, self-sacrifice, and acts
of special devotion.

No one who has lived in a Moslem city during this
period can fail to have been impressed with the religious
fervour shown, and will never forget the dirge-like
lament " Hasan ! Husein ! " and the accompanying dull
thud, as the mourners beat their breasts in sign of
impassioned grief.

In a Shiah country such as Persia, Muharram is a great
factor in the religious life of the people, and the play com-
memorating the tragic deaths of Husein and his family
is able now, after the lapse of over a thousand years, to
rouse the Persians to a frenzy of woe. There are many
scenes of this great Persian drama, and the only thing
to which it may be compared is the "Passion Play"
as acted by the peasants of Ober-Ammergau. In each
case the play is a religious tragedy, the onlookers
feeling that they are present at a sacred spectacle,
and being deeply moved when the objects of their
adoration are presented to them in bodily form.

But before we give any account of the ceremonies of

MUHARRAM 145

Muharram, the story of the martyrdom of Mohammed's
descendants must be told.

According to the Shiahs, AH ought to have succeeded
the Prophet as the first Imam, and the festival of
Gadir commemorates a dubious tradition that Mo-
hammed, when he deserted Mecca for Medina, stopped
at the village of Gadir Khom, and mounting on a
platform of camel-saddles declared to thirty thousand of
his adherents that he nominated Ali as his successor.
Sir William Muir^ however, points out that the man
who presided at public prayer was always considered
to hold the chief authority ; and when Mohammed was
too ill to perform this task himself, he delegated it
to Abu Bekr (father of his beloved wife Ayesha), who
was chosen to be the first Khalif.

It is not improbable that Ali may have considered
that he had a right to the succession in virtue of his
marriage with Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, and the
latter never recognised Abu Bekr as Khalif and
endeavoured to stir up her friends against his rule.

The Persians have a tradition that on the Prophet's
death Fatima urged her husband to demand the
Khalifate, and that throughout a whole morning she
returned again and again to the charge, but was met
with total silence. At last, when it was noon and the
call to prayer rose from the tninar^ Ali opened his mouth
and inquired, " What is that man saying ? "

'"There is but one God, and Mohammed is His
Prophet,'" Fatima answered, somewhat surprised.

" Do you wish that call to be heard throughout the
world?" her husband continued; and on hearing his
wife's assent, he said, " If I become Khalif it will
' " Life of Mahomet."

L

146 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

cease, but if Abu Bekr be elected it will endure ; " and
from that moment Fatima ceased to urge Ali, who
perhaps knew his own limitations.

Abu Bekr was succeeded by Omar, the conqueror
of Persia, and at his death the Khalifate was offered to
Ali. But when the latter announced that he would
be guided by the Koran and his own judgment,
paying no attention to the "tradition of the elders,"
Othman was chosen in his stead ; and it was not until the
assassination of this latter that the " Lion of God,"
as he was called from his personal courage, became
Khalif in A.D. 655. But he succeeded to a most
uneasy throne, and having more valour than brains,
he refused to listen to all advice. Ayesha supported
his deadliest enemy Moawiyeh, Governor of Syria,
in the latter's pretensions to the Khalifate, even ac-
companying his troops at the famous Battle of the
Camel, which was the beginning of civil war among
the Faithful. Ali was victorious on this occasion,
but was worsted in the next encounter ; and while
he was gathering troops for fresh efforts he was
assassinated in the mosque of Kufa by one of his
old adherents. Two others of the band attempted
to murder Moawiyeh and Amrou at the same time,
believing that Islam would be at peace if the Khalif
and his bitterest enemies could be removed ; but
their enterprise ended in failure.

Hasan, All's elder son, was now elected to the
Khalifate, but was of different fibre to his father, for
he meekly abdicated in favour of Moawiyeh, only
stipulating that he should resume his position on the
death of the latter. This plan, however, the Khalif
frustrated by instigating Hasan's wife to poison her

MUHARRAM 147

husband, and Yezid succeeded to the throne of his
father Moawiyeh at Damascus.

But there was yet another son of AH, the gallant
Husein, and he and his descendants are peculiarly
dear to Persians, because he is believed to have married
the daughter of the last king of Persia and thus carried
on the royal Sasanian line.

Husein was living quietly at Mecca when he was
urged by the inhabitants of Kufa to place himself at
their head, and lead a revolt against the usurping
Khalif Yezid. He acceded to their request, and set
off with his family for Kufa ; but Yezid promptly
sent the stern Governor of Busreh to suppress the
premature insurrection by putting the leaders at Kufa
to death, and by despatching troops to intercept the
grandson of the Prophet.

Husein and his few adherents were easily surrounded
by the Syrian soldiery at Kerbela on the Euphrates ;
but so great was the reluctance to bear arms against
the man whom they believed to be half-divine, that
two of the leaders sent against him did their utmost
to dissuade the Governor from proceeding to extremi-
ties. Their efforts were in vain, and on the tenth day
the little band, perceiving that the end was very near,
corded their tents closely to one another in order
to keep off the onslaught of the Syrian horse.

Husein behaved throughout with unshaken courage,
and on the morning of the fatal day he washed and
perfumed himself, saying to his companions that he
and they would soon be with the houris of Paradise ;
and when they had prayed all prepared themselves
for the inevitable. Just before the fight began, one
of the Syrian captains galloped into the doomed camp,

148 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

resolved to die with the man he looked upon as his
lawful Khalif; and in another moment Shimr, who
is execrated equally with the Khalif Yezid throughout
the entire Shiah world, led his soldiers to the attack,
and shot the first arrow with his own hand.

And now ensued many a pathetic incident, one
being the death of Husein's baby-son in his father's
arms, another the severing of his little nephew's hand
by a sword. Husein himself was wounded again and
again ; but it seemed as if he bore a charmed life,
until Shimr, by dint of threats, forced his unwilling
soldiers to despatch him. It is said that this brutal
commander galloped over the prostrate corpse of All's
son with his cavalry, trampling it into the ground
with savage fury, after which it was decapitated.

Thus was Husein slain on the 9th of October,
A.D. 680, together with sixteen of his relatives ; and
Yezid's deed split up the Mohammedan world hence-
forth into the two great factions of Sunni and Shiah.

To put the matter shortly, the Sunnis, or " Tradi-
tionists," who are in a vast majority, acknowledge the
first four Khalifs to be the rightful successors of
Mohammed, and affirm that they are faithful to the
traditions, as their name implies.

The Shiahs, or " Followers " of Ali, consider that the
first three Khalifs were usurpers, and that Ali and his
descendants are the true Imams, or leaders of the
Faithful.

Persia became hotly Shiah, even when she was
governed by Sunni rulers. At the present day Persians
invoke the aid of Ali more frequently than that of the
Prophet ; they celebrate the death of Omar with
rejoicings and bonfires in which he is burnt in effigy

MUHARRAM 149

like another Guy Fawkes ; and it is looked upon as a
deadly insult if one man call another Yezid, or Shimr.

The first ten days of the lunar month of Muharram
are dedicated to the memory of the Prophet's grand-
sons, and on each day some special incident of the
tragedy of the plain of Kerbela is symbolised. For
example, on one day the whole populace will gasp, hold
their throats and exclaim, " I thirst ! " in memory of
the suffering undergone by the Faithful when they were
cut off from the Euphrates by the soldiery during
the heat of that Arabian October.

If a Persian boy is sickly in infancy, his parents
often vow that if he survive he shall be a sakka^
or water-carrier, in memory of the thirst endured by
Husein and his followers. This means that from the
age of five the boy will attend the ruzakhana^
or recitations, during Muharram, and offer water or
sherbet to the audience. He will be dressed in dark
red or blue silk, velvet, or cotton, according to the
rank of his parents, silver Bismillahs (in the Name of
God) being sewn upon his garments, and a skin water-
bottle strapped across his shoulders. He will pour out
the iced liquid with his left hand into a metal saucer
which he holds in his right, and passing through the
audience will give refreshment to all who ask for it.

When Muharram begins, the devout give up shooting
and their usual amusements. They dress in black,
leaving part of the chest bare, and walk with naked
feet in the different processions, beating their breasts
with much vigour. Princes, merchants, and peasants
often make a vow to join these processions for one,
two, or more days, especially if they have recovered
from any illness.

150 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The fanatical are wrapped in white garments repre-
senting their shrouds, the idea being that they are
ready to die for their faith ; and armed with swords
and knives, these men ' work themselves up to such
a frenzy that they cut their heads and faces until the
blood pours over their clothing. They might easily
kill themselves in their zeal were they not attended
by men carrying sticks, who strike up the weapons
when the blood-letting has gone far enough, or stop
any particularly dangerous slash ; but even so these
devotees often die from the after-effects of their wounds.

They will fasten padlocks into their cheeks ; and
yet in curious contrast to their almost maniacal self-
mutilation and shriekings, they will halt quietly at some
big house, and having partaken of sherbet and fruit,
will go their way with renewed fervour.

Though sharing the same religious convictions, it
is dangerous for these processions to meet one another,
as in such a case they are certain to come to blows
for the honour of Husein. At the present day the
zealots are often armed with revolvers, and if the
governor of a fanatical city such as Meshed did not
insist that each procession should start at a different
hour and should follow a specified route, many lives
would, in all probability, be sacrificed.

The dervishes play a great part during Muharram,
and have processions of their own in which they leap
along with streaming hair, leopard skins being thrown
over their white garments. With a discordant braying
of cow-horns, and a fearsome yelling as they beat
themselves with clubs and chains, they make their
way to the houses of the Persian notables, who give
them gifts and refreshments ; but these noisy pro-

MUHARRAM 151

fessionals are very different to the fanatics who almost
kill themselves for the exaltation of Husein.

On the tenth day of Muharram the climax of woe is
reached, and all the processions call out " Husein is
dead ! " with the wildest laments, the very servants
in European households going about barefoot in sign of
grief, while every face looks pale and dejected. So
universal is the mourning that the Persian equivalent
of " To cry out before you are hurt," is, " He begins to
weep before the recital of the death of Husein."

At Tehran there is a huge circular theatre, or takiek,
for the representation of the " Passion Play " during the
first ten days of Muharram. It is not roofed in, but
covered with an awning during the representations, and
all round it are boxes for the Shah and the aristocracy,
the populace finding places in the arena. The hundreds
of black-clad women and children sit in front of the
stage, which is a round platform in the middle of the
building ; and behind them are the men.

To European eyes it is a curious thing to see perhaps
three or four thousand women, not one of whom dis-
closes her features, and who can only look through the
strip of lacework inserted in the white cloth that hangs
over her face. They all come very early in order to get
good places on the mud floor on which they sit on
their heels, and they drink sherbets and smoke
kalians at intervals, listening to the exhortations of
different mullas who try to work upon the emotions of
the great crowd. At last barbaric music heralds the
approach of the actors, who mount the steps leading to
the platform, and the audience stops smoking and
drinking and prepares itself for what follows. As
no Mohammedan woman may appear in public, the

152 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

actors are all men and boys, who mostly play their
parts well and with conviction, the honour of appearing
in the tazieh often descending from father to son.
Indeed parents in the audience will sometimes beg that
their boys may be allowed to stand upon the stage for a
short time in such parts as that of Husein's little nephew
or of his infant son Abdullah. A Persian gentleman
told the writer how when he was a boy of seven, sitting
beside his mother at one of these plays, he was
suddenly seized by an unknown actor and lifted upon
the stage. He gave vent, however, to such lusty howls
that he was speedily restored to his relative, who felt
that a curse for life would rest upon her unlucky son
on account of his indecorous conduct !

There are thirty to forty taziehs, some taken from
Jewish legend, but naturally these do not interest the
audience in the same way as the touching episodes
relating to the events that took place on the desert
plain of Kerbela,

Many of the actors are clad in suits of chain armour ;
there is no " scenery," but horses and camels give an air
of reality to the moving tragedy of the " Family of the
Tent." The European spectator speedily forgets the
primitive mise en scene, and cannot fail to be im-
pressed by the passionate emotion evinced by the great
audience as the play proceeds. " Ya Ali ! Ya Husein ! "
they ejaculate as they weep profusely, and Mr. S. G. W.
Benjamin,! who has given a most interesting account
of the Persian " Passion Play," writes of its effect on the
onlookers : " For several moments sobs and sighs, and
now and again a half-suppressed shriek, swept from one
side of the building to the other. Strong men wept ;
^ " Persia and the Persians."

MUHARRAM

153

there was not a dry eye in the loggia where I was
seated, except my own ; and I confess that I was not
altogether unmoved by this impressive scene."

When the writer was staying at Ahwaz on the Karun
river, she witnessed a curious representation of the
death of Husein from the roof of the house in which
she was Hving. Owing to the intense heat the tazieh
took place after sunset in front of the governor's
residence, the thudding of drums announcing the
appearance of the actors who carried a small green
canopied shrine. Behind this was borne a coffin, sup-
posed to be that of Husein, draped in black and sur-
mounted by a green turban. Horsemen in chain
armour represented the adherents of the Prophet's
grandson and their Arab assailants, and fought fiercely
with one another, the large crowd present being
apparently in imminent peril of wounds from the wildly
brandished weapons, or of being trampled underfoot by
the excited horses.

Throughout the performance the populace kept up a
poignant lament, beating their bare breasts as they
cried, " Hasan ! Husein ! " in a monotonous iteration ;
and as the excitement grew more intense they broke
into a barbaric dance. The faces lit up by smoking
torches were those of fanatics, and the whole perform-
ance, impressive in its sincerity, was very different to
that given by a nomad tribe in south-east Persia.
These people, after working themselves up to a tearful
emotion, surprised the writer by suddenly giving a
travesty of the solemn scene at which actors and
spectators roared with ill-timed laughter.

Sir Lewis Pelly ^ and Count Gobineau have trans-
' " The Persian Miracle Play."

154 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

lated many of these taziehs, but space forbids me to give
more than a resume of one of them from the translation
of the former. It is the " Death of Husein," and is acted
on the tenth and great day of Muharram.

The grandson of the Prophet is depicted as lament-
ing his sad fate and approaching end, and is challenged
by the accursed Shimr, who bids him leave his tent and
meet his martyrdom. Upon this his sister Zainab
comes to mourn with him the loss of his son Ali Akbar,
the first of all the family to fall a victim ; of his brother
Abbas, the standard-bearer ; of his nephew Kasim and
his infant child Abdullah. Husein does his best to
comfort her, commending his little daughter to her care,
and he says last farewells to his other sister, to an old
slave, and to his wife Shahrbanu, the Persian princess.
Then he puts on a tattered shirt beneath his robes, tell-
ing Zainab that he trusts his enemies will be ashamed
to strip him of this valueless garment after his death,
and having refused the help of the King of the Fairies,
he goes to meet the dagger of Shimr.

In his last moments he is consoled by apparitions of
the Prophet and of Fatima his mother, and his dying
words are, " O Lord, for the merit of me, the dear child
of the Prophet ; O Lord, for the sad groaning of my
miserable sister ; O Lord, for the sake of young Abbas
rolling in his blood, even that young brother of mine
that was equal to my soul, I pray thee, in the Day of
Judgment, forgive, O merciful Lord, the sins of my
grandfather's people, and grant me, bountifully, the key
of the treasure of intercession."

These few words can give no idea of the pathos of
many of the fifty-two scenes of this wonderful " Passion
Play," which certainly has had a far greater influence on

MUHARRAM 155

the thousands who annually hear it recited than has any
play that ever was written.

In the last scene of all the Resurrection is depicted,
the Patriarchs and Prophets rising from their graves ;
while the angel Gabriel tells Mohammed to hand the
key of Paradise to Husein, saying, "The privilege of
making intercession for sinners is exclusively his —
Husein is by my peculiar grace the mediator for all."

Upon this the Prophet of Islam gives the key to his
grandson with the words, " Deliver from the flames
every one who in his lifetime shed but a single tear for
thee, every one who has in any way helped thee, every
one who has performed a pilgrimage to thy shrine or
mourned for thee, and every one who has written tragic
verses for thee. Bear each and all with thee to
Paradise ; " and the scene ends with joyful sinners
entering the abodes of the Blessed through the inter-
cession of Husein.

It is no wonder that there is weeping in abundance
on the anniversary of the Martyr's death, and these
tears are often carefully collected by a priest and kept
in a bottle, to be applied to the lips of the dying.

In cities such as Meshed, where the priests set their
faces against theatrical representations, the populace
attends ruzakhana, or recitals of the tragic tale, which
are given by the mullas in different houses. Three or
four priests will be hired by a pious man to give a
recital, and the hearers attend in black clothes and carry
large pocket-handkerchiefs. It is de rigueur to weep
profusely, even though some priests have not the power
of moving the listening crowds ; but to be unmoved
stamps a man at once as an unbeliever. The priests
say that such a one will be consigned to hell at

156 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

his death, while every tear shed in remembrance of
Husein washes away many sins. Yet a spirit of levity
occasionally creeps in even at these gatherings ; for
a Persian told the writer that he was thankful for his
handkerchief when a very stout man among the
audience wept so loudly in a high falsetto voice, with
such an absurd resemblance to that of a woman, that it
was difficult for him to refrain from bursts of unseemly
laughter.

On the fortieth day after the anniversary of the death
of Husein, some of the Muharram excitement is revived
by a big procession, in which men and boys are dressed
up to personate the Martyr and all the dramatis
personcs of the " Passion Play." Representations of
Husein's tomb at Kerbela and the mosque are carried ;
men, apparently decapitated, walk along, bearing their
heads on poles ; horsemen are clad in old chain armour
and helmets; Husein's coffin draped in green is a con-
spicuous object ; and any corpses on the way to the
cemetery often join in the procession.

This is the last manifestation of Muharram, the
celebration of which has moved the Shiah world to its
depths, and during which the bulk of the populace
would be capable of almost any act of self-devotion and
also of any deed of wild hatred against the Sunni faction
whom they look upon as the cause of Husein's untimely
death. The grief for the martyrs and the anger against
their enemies are over for that year ; but the European
spectator is left wondering whether any beneficial moral
effect has resulted from so much unrestrained emotion.

CHAPTER IX
TRAVEL

TO enjoy travel in Persia a man ought to be strong
and keen, of the type of those "who scorn
delights and live laborious days," and, if possible, he
should be endued with a dash of imagination, a taste
for art, history, and sport, and an interest in his fellow-
creatures. To such a traveller the time spent in Iran
will be one of the most cherished memories of his life, a
period when at his best he lived to the full, a haunting
episode filling him now and again with a strange
home-sickness.

When he is surrounded with the comforts of the
West he will hear in fancy the cry of the muezzin ring
out at dawn above some sleeping city ; he will smell
the hundred odours, pleasant or the reverse, that go to
make up the never-to-be-forgotten aroma of an Asiatic
bazaar; he will see again the long string of majestic
camels with heads thrown high pursue their solemn
way, their great spongy feet making hardly any sound
on the sandy plain, and their sides hung with huge
bales of merchandise. Perhaps a caravan of energetic
mules jingling with bells will dispute the right of road
with the " ships of the desert," and in a moment all will
be noise and confusion. The charm of the solitude will

158 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

be broken, and the air rent with the yells and objurga-
tions of camel-men and muleteers whose charges are
inextricably mixed and out of hand. And the whole
scene will be arched with a vault of so dazzling a
blue that it seems to be composed of light itself, on
either hand the strongly coloured mountain ranges re-
vealing every seam and fissure in their sides beneath
the pitiless noonday glare.

Or it may be that the traveller is riding on his way,
shivering beneath his wraps in the cold wind that
heralds in the dawn, and before him, as the veils of
mist roll off from the hills, he will see the curious effects
of refraction. Everything will be magnified to colossal
proportions, a man on horseback seeming like a giant,
and boulders assuming the strangest shapes as of
palaces or of impregnable fastnesses. Perhaps seduc-
tive lakes fringed with palms and waving reeds will lure
him on, though he knows full well that they are but an
illusion, the mirage of the desert. In the words of
Hafiz :—

" The fountain-head is far off in the desolate wilderness ;
Beware lest the demon deceive thee with the mirage."

Day after day he rides across vast plains separated
from one another by mountain ranges, and that
civilisation which in spite of himself has counted for
so much in his life hitherto, seems to drop from him.
Time has not the same meaning when there are no
trains or steam-boats to be caught, and when he is
surrounded by men whose favourite phrase is Farda
inshallah (" To-morrow, please Allah "). He finds his
tent a welcome change from the crowded hotels of the
West, and any uneasy questionings as to life's problems

TRAVEL 159

seem folly when an air that courses through the blood
like wine, giving a sense of exhilaration and freedom,
blows across expanses that invite the traveller to go
ever forward. In such a climate the camp food tastes
better than the choicest efforts of a Parisian chef, and a
spring of good water is as nectar of the gods after
probably much experience of water of varying degrees
of flatness, brackishness, or even foulness.

And when the day's march is over, the traveller,
strolling round camp before turning in, will visit the
horses to whom he owes so much of his pleasure and
comfort. They will lie picketed near at hand, warmly
wrapped up in thick felts, and will neigh softly as he
approaches them. Over all, the golden moon and
constellations, that glow and throb with a lustre
unknown to Western lands, hang like lamps in a sky
of velvety purple, and as he lies down to rest on his
hard camp mattress, he will be filled with a great
content before he passes into sound and dreamless
slumber. Is he not free from the shackles of civilisa-
tion, and leading that nomad existence the love of
which lurks deep down in the hearts of most men ?

In the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, who has
eloquently sung the praises of such a life : —

"The untented Kosmos my abode,
I pass a wilful stranger :
My mistress, still the open Road,
And the bright eyes of danger."

The last line of the stanza suggests what always
underlies Persian travel — a sense of adventure, the feel-
ing that perhaps some day Death may look the
wanderer in the face. Such an idea gives a zest to the

i6o PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

long day's march, for "anything may happen" in
passing through certain districts of Iran. A European,
however, is seldom molested, as he has the reputa-
tion of being well armed, and the tufangchiSy or
guards, that patrol the roads, thrust themselves upon
the traveller and give him hair-raising accounts of the
vicinity of bandits merely to get money from him. In
fact, before the present unrest, Persia was one of the
safest countries in Asia in which to travel.

"Much travel is needed to ripen a man," say the
Persians, and they also add, " He who has seen the
world tells many a lie." Both proverbs are true in
their case ; for the European who is accompanied by
servants accustomed to the march, will find them full of
resource, willing, tireless, cheerful, and with a capacity
for turning their hands to anything. If, however, he
chance to hear them reciting their adventures when
they have returned to the settled town-life, he will be
almost stupefied at their powers of imagination, and at
the ease with which they impose their "travellers'
tales " on their credulous hearers.

Full of fascination as is travel in Persia, yet looked
at from the point of view of the tourist, who carries
Baedeker under his arm, there are but few " sights "
to be visited. One town is much like another, and
as a rule is built on a barren plain, which is sprinkled
with patches of cultivation near the city and across
which run chains of kanat mounds carrying the water
from the nearest mountain streams.

The walls and the houses of the towns built of
dun-coloured mud-bricks, would look intolerably mean
were it not for the glitter of the tilework of the
domes and minarets of some mosque or shrine, and

TRAVEL i6i

for the glorious sunshine which throws a glowing
mantle over the most squalid details. And when the
traveller has passed through the ornate gateway, prob-
ably badly in need of repair, of some town he may feel
that there is little of interest for him to see because,
being an unbeliever, he will not be allowed to enter
a single mosque. In a city such as Meshed he will
not even be able to look at the outside of the finest
buildings close at hand. Certainly at Isfahan there
are remains of the bygone splendour of the Sefavean
kings ; and the magnificent ruins of Persepolis, and
the remarkable rock sculptures of Achsemenian and
Sasanian monarchs would well repay many for the
toil of the whole journey ; but, these apart, there is
very little to " see." The bazaars are much the same
everywhere, and have a tiresome monotony of shoddy
clothing, third-rate crockery, lamps and mirrors, with
an equally tiresome lack of characteristic Oriental
goods, the traveller hunting in vain among the myriad
stalls which line the covered-in alleys for old carpets
and metal-work, old silks and embroideries. Outside
them, he will feel imprisoned between the high mud
walls that enclose the network of narrow lanes often
cobbled, and which are ankle deep in mud in wet
weather and thick in dust during dry. He will pass
miles of houses, the only indication of their where-
abouts being a stout, low door in the concealing
wall; and he will notice with what apparent secrecy
both men and women make their exits and entrances,
giving him the sense of being shut out from the
lives of these strange people. Again, he who has
longed for the East, and imagines it to be fraught
with a certain magnificence, is disappointed at the

M

i62 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

obvious need of repair of most of the buildings
around him, at the dull clothing of the inhabitants,
and the general poverty-stricken look of everything.
On a grey day the impression left upon him will be
one of unrelieved khaki colour, and he may ask him-
self why he came to such a land.

Nowadays carriages can be hired on all the main
routes, but a few years ago there were only two ways of
travelling in Persia ; by chapar, or post, and by caravan.
By the former the traveller rode through the country
on post-horses — one for himself and one for his bedding
and supplies — and was attended by a shagird, or post-
boy, who took the often half-starved animals back at
the end of each stage.

Sometimes there were no horses to be got at
the chapar-khana, or post-house, in which case the
traveller must halt in discomfort, or must take his
tired steeds on for another stage. As his whole kit
was squeezed into a pair of saddle-bags, he was not able
to take much in the way of supplies, and, moreover,
could get nothing save tea and bread at the halting-
places. This inspired him to " beat the record " on
his journey, and he would ride from dawn to sunset,
proud of having done more miles than any prede-
cessor, and callous as to the feelings of his over-
worked and underfed mounts. Often he arrived far
from fit at his destination, and sometimes an attack
of fever was the result of some sixty to a hundred
miles a day, little sleep in dirty, vermin-haunted,
perhaps crowded chapar-khanas and a regime of
insufficient food.

The ideal mode of travel in Persia is to " caravan,"
that is, for the traveller to have his own horses, and hire

TRAVEL 163

some mules to carry his tents, camp equipment, supplies,
and servants, making him completely independent of
rest-houses and knock-kneed chapar horses. The best
time for his journey is during the spring or the autumn,
the former being the only season in which flowers and
greenery adorn the country. Moreover, the snow that
blocks up many of the high passes is melting, and the days
are longer than in the autumn. But during the day
the heat in the south and on the lower parts of the
Plateau is considerable, and insect life is active in the
caravanserais. On the other hand, the cold is often
intense in the winter during the night and early
morning ; but as soon as the sun has risen the climate
reminds the traveller of that of some Swiss winter resort,
with its floods of sunshine and dry and sparkling air.

In the summer heat all travelling must be done at
night, and rest taken during the day — a difficult process
when the air is resonant with flies, and the mosquito
net to check their intrusions almost stifles the would-be
sleeper.

Let us, however, follow a traveller at a time when
heat and insects do not trouble, and let us suppose that
he starts from Tehran in January on his ride south
about half-way through the forty days of the " Great
Cold." He has engaged a good road-servant and a
groom to cook and look after him and the horses, the
men being delighted to accompany him, for they get a
jira. This means that their usual wages are half as much
again in order to recoup them for the extra expense of
food on the journey. They also get a month's wage
before starting to be spent on suitable clothing for the
expedition, and, moreover, they thoroughly enjoy travel-
ling for its own sake, all Persians being nomads at

i64 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

heart. The money question must be taken into con-
sideration, for travel in Iran needs a good supply
of ready cash. There is practically no gold coinage
in the country, and the coin in current use is the
silver kran (worth fourpence-halfpenny in 1909). Ten
krans make up a toman (worth four shillings in 1909) ;
but this coin is hardly ever seen, therefore bags full of
heavy two-kran pieces must be carried to meet the
expenses of the road.

The traveller has engaged a small caravan of mules
under the leadership of a trusty charvadar (head
muleteer), whose sturdy animals can do twenty-five
miles a day if not too heavily loaded, and if given a
day's rest at intervals. Some tinned meats, dried fruits,
jam, and butter will greatly add to his comfort during
the journey, also forage, charcoal, tea, flour, rice, and
meat, sufficient to last until he reaches a town where
fresh supplies may be purchased. A tent, camp-bed-
stead, folding-table, chair, and bath ensure luxury when
compared with caravanserai accommodation ; and the
traveller ought to have his own saddle (with a felt
nmnneh in case of sore backs), wear a felt slouch
hat (to be exchanged for a pith helmet in hot weather)
and carry blue goggles to save his eyes from the ex-
cessive glare. He needs warm clothing and plenty of
wraps, also a mackintosh ; and it is a wise precaution
to bind flannel round his stirrups, as otherwise his feet
will be half-frozen in cold weather. Lined Russian top-
boots keep the legs warm ; but stout English boots and
gaiters are better for an active man who likes to
dismount and lead his horse over bad going, or who
wishes to try his luck with any game he may come
across.

TRAVEL 165

To " run " a caravan successfully is no easy matter,
and the Sahib will find that tact and good temper
are necessary ; also some knowledge of the language,
a comprehension of Oriental character, and an ability
to turn his hand to anything. The muleteers are often
independent and unruly, needing skilful management,
and quarrels sometimes arise between these gatirchis
and the servants, the combatants resorting to blows.
They may even use their knives with disastrous results
if their master is not on the alert to smooth away any
friction at the outset.

The Persian muleteer always finds it most difficult
to tear himself from the fascinations of a town, and
there are countless delays on the day of a start. Some
are occasioned by the loads not being adjusted properly
to the mules at first, or by various things being forgotten,
but mostly by that kink in a charvadar' s character
which makes him so tiresome to deal with when he is
in a city, though often one of the pleasantest, most
honest, and hard-working of Persians when on the road.

The experienced traveller knowing this, arranges a
short stage for the first day, a mere nakl-i-makan
(change of place), as Persians term it, and probably will
get no further on his way to Kum than the mehman-
khana of Kahrisek, a few miles from Tehran. He
will ride through a region of squalid lanes, and leave
the capital by one of its grandiose gateways, near which
runs the only railway in Persia, six miles in length, which
he follows to the gold-domed shrine of Shah Abdul
Azim, where Nasr-ed-Din Shah met his death from an
assassin's bullet. From here the country is bare and
deserted-looking, patches of snow lie on the ground and
a keen wind is blowing from the white-covered mountain

i66 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

ranges, making him glad to reach his destination. A
mehmankhana is the best imitation of a hotel to be
found outside Tehran, and these draughty buildings are
erected at intervals along the road, built by an English
Company, as far as Kum : they are actually provided
with bedsteads, tables, and chairs, and follow their
western models by presenting the traveller with a com-
paratively heavy bill on his departure. As his servant
Akbar is accustomed to the road he will soon be in
comfort. A giltm, or cotton-carpet, will be laid on the
floor and another hung against the warped and rickety
door, through which the winter blasts are howling ; most
buildings in Persia being constructed with an idea of
letting in air during the summer heats rather than
excluding it during the intense cold of winter. The
samovar, with its core of burning charcoal, will be
hissing merrily, providing tea to warm the traveller
after his cold ride, and later on he will take his bath
in front of a fire of blazing logs, coal being procurable
only at the capital. His dinner, cooked with the aid
of a most rudimentary batterie de cuisine over a
small pot of charcoal, will perhaps consist of excellent
soup, a pilau, a roast partridge, and a compote of
apricots served with custard. There is not much
inducement to sit up late, as every one will henceforth
rise before daybreak if long marches have to be made,
and it is easier to keep warm in bed when the tem-
perature is hardly above freezing-point, than beside a
fire that seems to emit little heat and needs constant
replenishment.

Our Sahib will be roused at dawn by his servant,
to dress in a room full of cold draughts, and to find
that the water in the camp basin is frozen over. While

TRAVEL 167

he is hurriedly getting into his clothes, his camp
equipment will be packed and carried out to be loaded
up on the mules, and he will drink tea, eat some bread
and eggs in haste, and will then go out to watch his
caravan start off. Probably it will consist of three or
four fine mules, hung with bells, the loads being carried
on high pack-saddles, and the charvadar's horse, adorned
with many-coloured worsted trappings, heading the
procession— an evil custom, for if the animal happen
to die during the journey the mules will refuse to
start on the day's march without their leader. The
muleteers wear striped sacking coats over their shirts,
and have great felt cloaks for cold weather and in
which to sleep at night, their footgear being the giva,
or cotton shoe, of the country with its rag sole. Their
felt skull-caps are swathed with coloured hankerchiefs,
and a belt carries their knife, pipe, packing-needle and
string, whip and money-bag. They are handsome, wiry
fellows, and walk alongside their charges urging them
on with cries, but seldom belabouring them with the
long staves that they carry. At last everything is
loaded up, and the traveller, after seeing the animals
well on their way, mounts his steed and canters after
them along the road, on either side of which stretches
a dreary plain bounded by ranges of hills. He and
his servant will probably forge on ahead and halt for
an hour about eleven o'clock for lunch, the mules
passing them on their way to the night's resting-place.
Distance in Persia is spoken of by the terra farsakh,
a measurement of some three and a half to four miles,
and, as may be imagined, is not computed with
strict accuracy by the natives, and differs according to
the difficulty of the road.

i68 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The chief point of note on the third march from
Tehran, is the gloomy defile of the " Valley of the
Angel of Death," which is interesting as being the
mise en scene for many of the " ghoul " stories of
Persia. To the ordinary traveller there is nothing
particularly awe-inspiring about it, and certainly it is
easier to negotiate than many other passes to be met
with in the country. When this region is left behind,
that "abomination of desolation," the great kavir,
or salt, desert is seen, stretching far away on the
horizon. Persians credit Shimr, the murderer of their
beloved Imam Husein, with having caused this terrible
waste, asserting, with no regard to geographical prob-
ability, that he fled here after he had slain the Prophet's
grandson at Kerbela on the Euphrates, and that on
his approach the fertile ground at once turned into a
huge salt marsh.

And further on a salt lake with brilliantly blue waters
has to be skirted, and Akbar will tell his Sahib that
some thirty odd years ago the old road to Kum passed
across its bed, and a large caravanserai gave shelter
to travellers. The vizier of the day, however, was
determined that the present road should be used by
all and sundry, and he thought that he could effect
this by removing the dam of a river and flooding the
old route. His plan was almost too successful, for
not only were the road and caravanserai submerged,
but many miles of the plain were turned into the
present lake, and the muleteers were forced to pay
dues for using the new road in which the Prime
Minister was pecuniarily interested.

Some twenty miles from Kum a low pass is crossed,
from the top of which the golden-domed Mosque of

TRAVEL 169

Fatima is clearly seen, the town lying beneath a curious
double hill. Little piles of stones are on either side of
the track, having been thrown there by the Faithful to
indicate that from this spot they have caught their first
glimpse of the shrine to which they are making a
pilgrimage. The rest of the way is along a broad road,
on either side of which stretches the salt desert, and
the inexperienced would be engulfed in its numer-
ous quicksands, did they venture upon it without a
guide. Fatima, the sister of the Imam Reza, in whose
honour the magnificent shrine at Meshed was built, is
the patron saint of Kum, having died here when on her
way to visit her brother at Meshed, and tradition affirms
that the Eighth Imam visits his sister every Friday. The
present mosque has a gold-covered dome and two gold-
topped minarets in the original design, but the Vizier of
Nasr-ed-Din Shah added two huge tiled minars much
later, which destroy the symmetry of the building.
Fraser, I who visited the mosque in 1821 in disguise,
speaks of the magnificence of Fatima's tomb, which is
enclosed by a massive silver grating, above which hangs
the sword of Shah Abbas, and he comments on the
beauty of the tilework and mosaic. Next to Meshed
it is the great centre of pilgrimage in Persia, thousands
of flat graves, as at Meshed, covering the space round
the building outside. Women especially favour this
shrine, and it is curious that the honour paid to Fatima,
and also to her ancestress the Fatima, who was the
Prophet's daughter, has not raised the position of the
weaker sex with Moslems.

The people of Kum are very fanatical, and on the
morrow, as the traveller rides through the bazaar, he will
^ " A Journey in Khorasan."

170 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

have many a hostile glance from the hundreds of felt-
capped Persians busy with their different trades or
chaffering as they buy their day's supplies.

It will be a relief to emerge on to the deserted plains,
and late that afternoon the tents will be pitched, and
real camp life will commence. The Sahib will, if
possible, choose a spot that has not been used by
caravans, scanning the ground narrowly for ticks, as
these horrible insects are always left wherever camels
have lain ; and he will try to camp above any village in
order to draw his water from the kanat before it has
been polluted. Then begins the unloading of the mules,
which has to be done in haste, so eager are the animals
for a roll in the dust; and the tents are put up with
a good deal of fuss, and complaints that the pegs have
been lost, one of the guy-ropes broken, and so on. At
last they are pitched ; the muleteers have curry-combed
their charges with an iron implement that makes a
rattling noise ; and the groom has fed the horses and
covered them up with their felt night-clothing. Their
master, clad in thick ulster and cap, is jotting down
notes in his diary by the light of a candle with a glass
shade to prevent it flickering in the night air, and
impatiently shouting to know why his dinner is so long
in coming. A clatter of plates, and Akbar arrives with
the soup, usually lukewarm, other courses following in
time, and when the meal is finished the Englishman
strolls about the plain for a smoke before he turns in.

The moon and stars shine with a cold brilliance,
Persians saying that the latter are holes in the floor-
ing of heaven to let God's glory shine through ; from
the mysterious depths of the long shadows cast by
the mountains a jackal will suddenly steal past like

TRAVEL 171

a ghost, to be followed by others on their way to join
the pack in its nightly hunt for food, and surely that
skulking, hump-backed form with its shambling gait
can be no other than the hyaena ? The little owls utter
their plaintive cry ; the great screech owl shrieks like a
badly wounded dog ; and, once out of the reach of
the ceaseless gufti-gu (chatter) of his dependents, the
traveller will hear a score of night noises — weird sounds
that he cannot locate, eerie rustlings and patterings that
make him understand the whole-hearted Persian belief
in ghouls and jinns.

Between Kum and the next town — Kashan — there is
little life to be seen and hardly any cultivation, the
patches of salt lying on the barren plains showing the
proximity of the great salt desert, and the mountain
ranges sharply outlined against the cerulean heaven
being destitute of vegetation. Majestic Demavend,
monarch of the snowy Elburz range, is clearly visible
as far as Kashan, a distance of some hundred and fifty
miles as the crow flies, and the traveller often turns in
his saddle to have a look at the fine peak that becomes
more and more isolated the further he leaves it behind
him, until at last its attendant mountains have all
vanished and the triangular cone stands up without a
rival, pale and ghostly, against the blue background.

A lofty leaning minaret is the most striking object in
the town that has given its name to the beautiful kashi^
or tiles, for which Persia is celebrated : it is also the
centre of the silk industry.

Every writer speaks of the virulence and abundance
of the scorpions found here, " May you be stung by a
Kashan scorpion " being a popular curse ; and the
inhabitants are credited with a cowardice far surpassing

172 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

that of the ordinary Persian city-dweller. Sir J. Mal-
colm I relates that thirty thousand soldiers of Kashan
and Isfahan, when disbanded by Nadir Shah, asked
that monarch to give them an escort of a hundred
soldiers to take them safely home. The Shah, with
whom personal courage counted above all virtues, is
reported to have said that he regretted his days of
brigandage were over, as he would have enjoyed looting
such an army of poltroons !

Four miles from Kashan is the lovely garden of Fin,
in which is a palace built by Fath AH Shah, falling into
ruin. Here between avenues of cypresses water runs
over channels lined with blue and green tiles, and
portraits of the builder and his many sons are frescoed
on the walls and archways. The visitor will be told
how Mirza Taki Khan, the able Vizier of Nasr-ed-Din
Shah and husband of his royal master's sister, met
his death here. The courtiers stirred up the Shah's
jealousy against his minister, who was banished to this
garden. Though he was watched night and day with a
passionate affection by his royal wife, yet means were
found to despatch him when she was off her guard, and
a man who might have done much for his country was
lost to Persia.

The traveller orders an early start when he is about
to leave Kashan, and his servant packs his personal
equipment in good time, but, as usual, the muleteers
are not forthcoming. In spite of messengers sent to
the caravanserai in which they and their animals are
lodged, it is past ten o'clock before they make their
appearance at the telegraph office and begin to load up.
Even then they profess to have mislaid something at
^ " Persian Sketches."

TRAVEL, 173

the serai and must go to retrieve it. A rope or a
piece of giltm has been forgotten, so that the sun is
high in the heavens before the broken-down buildings
of dilapidated Kashan are left behind and the caravan,
passing through a zone of cultivation, emerges on to
the usual barren plain on its way to Isfahan.

The traveller soon comes across one of the fev/ public
works of Persia in the shape of a barrier, partly natural
and partly artificial, by which the Kohrud river is
dammed up right across the valley. This work was
executed in the beneficent reign of Shah Abbas in
order to give water to Kashan during the hot weather,
and, passing along the lake thus formed, the village of
Kohrud, which stands at a height of 7,000 feet, is
reached. As the night will in consequence be bitterly
cold every one is thankful to seek shelter in the chapar-
khana. As a rule, these buildings consist of some
rooms and stables built round a courtyard, but above
the entrance gateway are a couple of rooms for the
accommodation of better-class travellers and approached
by steps of abnormal height. Up these the rider, stiff
from the saddle, will stumble, calling to the keeper of
the post-house to bring firewood and a samovar. While
he is waiting for these comforts he will be amused to
observe that the Persian traveller is in the habit of
scribbling his name on the walls of chapar-klianas
and caravanserais as much or even more than the
British tourist, so often abused for this habit ; the
Oriental being fond also of writing quotations from his
favourite poets. The next day's stage to Soh may be
most wearisome, for snow often falls on the pass which
has to be crossed, the track is then obliterated, and the
mules, blundering into drifts, fall over and have to be

174 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

unloaded before they can regain their feet. The Sahib,
leading his horse, will plough his way as best he can,
wearing blue glasses, as the glare from the snow when
the sun shines on it is dazzling in the extreme, and the
caravan will arrive late and worn out after only a twenty-
mile march, warmth, food, and rest being ardently
desired by all.

During the next day, though the pass has been
crossed and the track that leaves the hilly country and
emerges on to the great Isfahan plain is denuded of the
hampering snow, yet a blizzard is raging. The icy
blast seems to blow right through the traveller's wraps
as if they had been made of paper, and his horse
becomes unmanageable as it refuses to face the bitter
wind that lashes it like a whip. The only thing to be
done is to press forward, as there is no shelter within
several miles, and were the caravan to return on its
tracks it would encounter blinding snow on the pass
above instead of the sleet, and probably lose its way in
the maze of hills, all the paths being obliterated. The
muleteers, enveloped in great felt cloaks, hurry their
unwilling charges along as best they can to the accom-
paniment of shouts and yells, and the Sahib is forced
to urge his trembling steed with whip and spurs. A
deadly numbing cold seems gaining upon him, and as
the hours go by his limbs appear to be getting
paralysed, when suddenly the sun shines from the
steely-blue, pitiless heaven, and the sleet-laden wind
abates. "Alhanidulillah !" shouts the c/iarvadar ; men
and animals take heart again, and after a short halt
cheerily proceed on their way, reaching the old capital
of the Sefavi kings a couple of days later.

The last stage into Isfahan is a short one, as Persians

TRAVEL 175

love to get into a town early in order to wash and put
on their good clothes, telling the Sahib that they
could not possibly appear in the bazaar in travel-stained
garments, as if they did so the Isfahanis would get a
bad impression of their employer as well as of them-
selves. This apparent care for their master's reputation
is not altogether due to that tashakhus, or love of
show, that most Persians possess in abundance, but from
a wish that the establishment to which they belong at
the time shall " put its best foot foremost " so to speak.
It is always an effective rebuke to tell a servant that
his conduct has given the house a bad nam (bad
name).

As so much has been written about Isfahan, its past
splendours and the relics of them that still survive,
it will be enough to say that Shah Abbas selected the
city for the seat of government as being in the heart
of his empire, and that he beautified it with splendid
mosques and palaces, avenues of trees, and wonderful
bridges. Here ambassadors from many European
countries visited him, also foreigners in search of
trade, and one and all bore testimony to the magnifi-
cence of the sovereign, his Court, and his capital, and to
the prosperity of the country under his sway. Of
course there must have been filth and squalor, lack of
drainage, narrow lanes, and insanitary dwellings, just as
at the present day, but there must also have been plenty
of commerce, and an encouragement of trade and the
arts such as has never been known since, giving some
foundation to the Persian saying, "■Isfahan nisfij'ehan"
(Isfahan is half the world). An educated Isfahani
remarked to the writer that the reigning dynasty being
of Turkish origin, had no aesthetic sense, and would not

176 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

disburse a kran to keep in repair the magnificent works
of their predecessors on the throne, but even destroyed
them in some cases, the Zil-es-Sultan, for example,
ruthlessly cutting down the splendid avenues of chenars
planted by Shah Abbas, which were not only a thing
of beauty, but were an inestimable boon to the city
during the intense heat of the summer. This conduct
he ascribed to a kind of jealous rivalry that will impel
a Shah to gild the dome of the shrine at Meshed —
a deed that will blazon forth his generosity and religious
zeal to the entire kingdom — but will not permit him to
keep up roads or bridges, the work of bygone bene-
factors.

The inhabitants of Isfahan are credited with being
niggardly in the extreme, and the Persian proverb to
describe a miser, " He puts his cheese in a bottle and
rubs his bread on the outside," is supposed to be
derived from the avarice of an Isfahan merchant. This
worthy, together with his unfortunate apprentice, lived
entirely on bread which the pair were wont to rub
against a bottle in which was a piece of cheese, in order
to give it an imaginary flavour of this latter. The story
goes on to say that the merchant, on leaving the house
one day, locked up the room in which was this bottle,
and on being pursued by his luckless shagird, who
said that he could not swallow his bread without the
accustomed relish, the merchant advised him to return
and rub it on the closed door !

The Persians have a saying by which they seek to
account for the almost inexplicable fascination of the
" open road," Musdfir misl i divdneh ast (The traveller
is like a madman), and the Englishman is longing to start
off on the march again and has no desire to linger

TRAVEL 177

among the departed glories of Isfahan. He needs to
see the red streak widen in the East day after day — that
harbinger of Aurora, who when she appears is often
surrounded by masses of tiny rosy clouds that vanish as
soon as the Sun God leaps into the pale-blue sky and
prepares to drive his chariot across the firmament.
This daily marvel of the dawn never becomes common-
place, and seems to lift for a brief moment the veil that
hangs over the heart of things, and to draw the traveller
closer to the great mother, Nature.

The Desert City of Yezd will be his next halting-
place, and as he has made a detow to visit the old
capital of Persia, the party now travels by little-known
tracks through a hilly country where the water is dis-
agreeably brackish, and past quaint villages seldom
visited by Europeans.

One of these hamlets, almost as curious in its way as
the remarkable village of Yezdikhast, is built on the
spur of a mountain, the mud houses hanging over the
precipice. In some cases the dwellings themselves are
burrowed out of the living rock, the whole looking par-
ticularly insecure, though affording an impregnable
refuge for the inhabitants in the old raiding days. The
weather keeps cold, and a tent is an airy apartment
during the hasty morning toilet, when a bitter wind
seems to be invariably blowing ; and one never-to-be-
forgotten night the traveller is awakened by his canvas
home falling upon him, the pegs and pole torn up by a
howling blast, and his equipment blown out into the
darkness. It is a time of lamentation and discomfort.
The cook screams out that his resai, or padded quilt, has
vanished ; the muleteers complain of various personal
losses, swearing by Ali and all the Imams i}c\.^\.jinns are

178 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

at the bottom of the turmoil ; and as no tent can stand
against the fury of the elements, all take what shelter
they can and await the dawn in no cheerful spirit.

The one ray of comfort in the situation is that the
furious wind keeps the rain off; but on the morrow,
when the gale goes down, a heavy deluge descends, and
everybody and everything are soaked, save perhaps the
traveller's bedding in its waterproof valise. Even
Akbar, paragon of servants, is grumbling, the dinner
provided is a poor one, and all go to rest very early, the
steady downpour making its way at last through the
stout canvas of the tents in long streaks of wet.

But such incidents as these are soon forgotten when
next morning the sun shines as usual in undisputed
majesty, and the Sahib halts for a day in order to try
and bring down a mountain sheep, and also to allow
everything to be thoroughly dried. A native shikarchi
guides him up the mountain, and after many hours of
climbing and stalking, he returns to the camp in triumph
with a fine quarry, which provides master and men with
a sumptuous supper : its skull and horns are preserved
as a trophy that proudly surmounts one of the mule
loads during the rest of the journey.

The next contre-tenips that occurs — one by no
means uncommon in Persian travel — is that the party
loses its way, and instead of reaching Taft, a charming
village near Yezd, is forced to halt for the night on a
barren stretch of ground near a brackish stream.

Every one talks of " roads " in Persia, but these are
usually a series of parallel tracks made by the kafilas
(caravans) during many centuries, and if the route leads
up dry river-beds, sown with boulders, or across patches
of hard gravel, or bed-rock, it is often indistinguishable.

w

TRAVEL 179

Moreover, there are dozens of false tracks leading appar-
ently nowhere in particular, and it is one of these that
has misled the caravan ; and the mules have plodded
laboriously over more than a farsakk of stony ground
before the mistake is discovered. Then ensues the weari-
some return and the anxious search for the right road,
which, when found, cannot be followed, as the February
night is ominously near ; for there is practically no
twilight in Persia, but an almost sudden step from sunset
into darkness. It takes longer to pitch the tents than
usual, and the traveller who has eaten nothing since a
hasty lunch at 10.30 a.m., feels his entire stock of patience
vanish abruptly when he observes that the hands of his
watch point to 10.30 p.m., and that his evening meal
still tarries. At last, after constant calls to Akbar,
answered by as constant " Bi chashm, bi chashjn, Sahib!"
(By my eyes), that henchman appears with the much-
needed food, and his master falls to with a gusto that he
has seldom, if ever, experienced at home ; and imme-
diately after eating he follows the Persian custom of
going to bed at once.

The last march into Yezd lies through a great
amphitheatre of mountains that open out into a superb
pass of castellated limestone cliffs, grand beyond
description, and forming a romantic setting for the
Desert City, as it lies in a blue haze in the distance.
The delightful village of Taft, refuge of well-to-do
Yezdis during the hot weather, is now passed, and
the traveller here notices the Gabrs, or Zoroastrians,
labouring in helmet-shaped felt caps, and admires
their picturesquely-clad women. The caravan then
picks its way along the stony bed of a dried-up
watercourse and emerges on to the plain on which

i8o PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Yezd stands, the city looking drearier than most Per-
sian towns from the absence of any vegetation near
it, loose sand not being a favourable soil in which to
raise crops. The new arrivals are struck by the count-
less badgzrs, or wind-towers, which are far more
prominent than the minars of the mosques, and
their number bears eloquent testimony to the heat of
the summer, the inhabitants retiring to underground
rooms beneath these air-shafts, as soon as it becomes
oppressively hot.

The little English colony will probably put the
traveller up, and after his tent-life in the cold uplands
he will find his first night in a room furnished in
European style a most disagreeable experience, and
will feel almost suffocated by the closeness of the
atmosphere in comparison with his airy tent, through
the canvas of which all the winds of heaven appeared
to blow. It will be long before he falls into a disturbed,
unrefreshing sleep, and he will sally out on the morrow
to see the sights of Yezd in a weary frame of mind.

The town, he will be told, is second only to Tabriz
and Isfahan in commercial importance, and produces
beautiful silk materials, but he will be more interested
in seeing the oft-persecuted Zoroastrians, the remnant
of the pure Iranian race, whom he will speedily
recognise by the ugly yellow hue of their garments.
He will be told that among other irritating restrictions,
they are not allowed to build badgirs to their
houses, to wear spectacles, or to ride horses. Yet,
in spite of everything, they have clung tenaciously
to their religion, and have not intermarried with their
conquerors. The dakmehs where their dead are
exposed, are built on low hills a few miles from the

TRAVEL i8i

city, and the more ancient of these " towers of silence "
can be inspected from a neighbouring mountain spur,
and contains a huge collection of skulls and bones
picked clean by the birds of prey. But in spite of
much kindly hospitality, the traveller is impatient to
start on his two-hundred-mile ride to Kerman, his
next halt, as he has far to go before he reaches the
coast. Accordingly, after the usual exasperating delays
which occur on leaving any town, and which by now
he accepts in a philosophical spirit, he starts off with
some of his new friends who speed him on his way by
riding a farsakh with him. The weather is stormy,
harbinger of the spring, and as high winds and heavy
downpours are frequent the party takes refuge at
night in the post-houses built at intervals on the sandy
plains, over which jinns, as Persians call the columns
of sand, whirl.

The chapar-khana of Shemsh as it stands, together
with a caravanserai, in solitary state on an absolutely
barren stretch of salt-strewn desert, gives an impression
of desolation hardly to be surpassed even in Persia ;
and the effect is heightened when it is discovered that
the stream running near by is so brackish that a
European can scarcely touch it even when it is served
to him in the form of tea.

Shortly after leaving this dreary halting-place, the
kafila encounters a dust-storm. The whole land-
scape is suddenly blotted out by a great dusky cloud,
the radiantly shining sun becomes a mere white blur,
and the sand is driven along by the wind with a curious
swishing sound. As the track is hidden, except when
the blast whirls the sand from it at intervals, the party
closes up, the men muffling their heads and yelling at

i82 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

their lagging and frightened charges, and the traveller
hastily donning his goggles to save his eyes from the
grit.

Progress is now slow in the extreme, for the track,
which is often difficult to find in daylight, is almost
impossible to follow when only fleeting glimpses are
obtainable of it ; but eventually men and animals arrive
late and sore-eyed at the post-house. The Sahib insists
that his dependants should bathe their eyes with
boracic lotion, and finds that Persians have a strange
dislike to washing their organs of sight if they are at all
inflamed, this misguided idea and the lack of brims to
their felt caps, leading to half the cases of ophthalmia
so common in the country. »

Though the wind is often violent, yet rain only falls
now and then on the parched plains ; and one day the
traveller, halting for lunch beside a running stream, was
astonished to find that the whole of the water had
vanished and left the bed dry while he was eating. But
before it reaches Kerman, the caravan has the unusual
experience of being obliged to wade through a mile of
flooded country surrounding the town of Bahramabad.
The muleteers dash knee-deep into the flood, probing
the bottom with their staves to find out any holes, and
during the process one man disappears into an unsus-
pected pit, and is fished out half-drowned. The mules
move forward warily, stopping every moment to try and
test the ground with their hoofs ; but at intervals one
after another roll over, and have to be unloaded with
much objurgation before they can recover their feet.
The traveller, after being unhorsed once, thinks it wiser
to splash along on foot, leading his steed that snorts
with terror and tries to break away whenever a mule

TRAVEL 183

falls headlong into the flood. Fortunately a villager
makes his appearance as they near the town, and offers
to guide them through the maze of irrigation channels,
now deep and muddy streams, that surround Bahra-
mabad, telling them that half the houses are in ruins
owing to the unusually heavy rain. It is with great
relief that the dirty and dripping party enter the gate
of the town, and seek the dubious hospitality of the
caravanserai which, to their dismay, they find almost
uninhabitable, part of the roof having fallen in and the
courtyard being a morass of indescribable filth. Not
even the charuadar wishes to halt more than a night
in this comfortless place, and next morning the kafila
makes its way gingerly through the town, getting one of
the citizens to lead it along the flooded lanes between the
gutted mud houses, for in places the road is swept away
altogether. At last the city gate is passed, and the party
is among a belt of cultivated ground before it reaches
the sandy desert again on its way to Kabutarkhan.

And from here onwards the long plain across
which men and animals have toiled since leaving
Yezd begins to close in, and the mountain ranges
come nearer together, Kerman itself appearing to lie
surrounded by hills on all sides. When the Sahib at
last reaches the city, the British Consul offers hospitality
to his countryman in a charming house which lies in the
garden- quarter outside the town, and has a good view
of the two picturesque limestone spurs on which were
erected the fortresses of Sasanian days.

Nowadays all that is to be seen of the city, that once
lay between them, are heaps of mud ruins carried away
daily on donkeys to act as manure, and littered with
scraps of the beautiful lustre tiles for which Persia was

i84 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

formerly so famous. The modern town is built on only
a quarter of the site that it occupied in the days when the
commerce of the East poured through it on its way north ;
and the inhuman Agha Mohammed Khan dealt the final
blow to its prosperity when he sacked Kerman in 1794
and blinded the majority of its inhabitants. The visitor
notices the poverty-stricken look of the place, surrounded
as it is by ruins, and remarkable even in Iran for the
number of its beggars, and there are no fine mosques or
public buildings to be seen in the narrow lanes in which
are frequent holes. The beautiful carpets made in the
town will attract him ; but if he visits a factory and
observes that the children who make the artistic fabrics
are crippled and deformed from the long hours of work,
and diseased from the dark, damp places in which they
are forced to spend their days of labour, he will feel that
the price of Kerman carpets is a heavy one ; for the
health and often the lives of countless little ones have
been lost in the making of them.

There is not much of interest to be seen in the
neighbourhood, the city lying on the edge of the great
desert, and being supplied with water from the many
fine ranges of hills in its near vicinity. The old
chroniclers, however, write that Kerman was once
famous for its rose-gardens that produced half the
attar of roses of commerce, and that its hundreds of
wells made it one of the most fertile districts in Persia.
At the present time there is practically but one tree in
the environs of the city (of course not including the
private gardens), and this plane is a prominent land-
mark for miles, bearing pathetic testimony to the work
of deforestation that has largely contributed towards the
sterility of Persia.

TRAVEL 185

The Fire Worshippers held out for long in the
Province of Kerman against their Arab invaders, and
Zoroastrians still survive here in some numbers, their
dakmehs being built on low hills in a desert region a
few miles from the city.

But the traveller, eager to press southwards to the
coast, dares not linger at Kerman, as he dreads the
intense heat of Baluchistan, where, according to the
Persians, the sun, even during the spring, is powerful
enough to cook eggs if they are exposed to its burning
rays. He has now to reorganise his caravan, because
his charvadar refuses to venture his mules in the
wilds of Baluchistan. All Persians have a horror of this
country, which they say equals the Infernal Regions in
heat, and which is peopled by Sunnis, worthy inhabi-
tants of such a land. Therefore six or seven camels are
engaged to carry the Sahib's servants and belongings
down to Gwadur, these slowly-moving, evil-smelling
beasts being able to pick up a good living from the
camel-thorn everywhere abundant, and also being
capable of going without water for some days if
necessary. Akbar and the groom complain at first
at being obliged to exchange their briskly-stepping
mules for a camel, as they suffer agonies of sea-sickness
until they get accustomed to the lurching movements of
their new steeds.

Supplies of all kinds must be taken ; forage for the
horses, and barley-meal with which to give the camels a
feed at night ; also a couple of wooden water-barrels,
because a corner of the great waterless Lut has to
be crossed. The Sahib sees that his servants have
movable shades to their hats, and looks to his own
pith-helmet and blue glasses ; for the glorious Persian

i86 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

sun that has shone above him hitherto will turn into a
dreaded enemy when he has left the lofty plateau and
descended into low-lying country.

He and his caravan start off early in March, making
their way across the sand hummocks of the Kerman
Desert to the little village of Mahun, not far from the
magnificent Jupar range. Both men and horses are in
excellent spirits, the crisp air having such an exhila-
rating effect on the latter that the Sahib's favourite
Arab carries its rider up and down the sand-heaps with
the buoyancy of a boy at play, and races along the
track far ahead of the mules, giving bucks at intervals,
to let off its high spirits. Like many of its kind it is
very docile, and when not ridden it trots along with the
caravan, and if it lags behind comes like a dog at the
groom's call. Much of the traveller's keen pleasure in
his journey is owing to Raksh and to the big raw-boned
Turkoman, Shaitan ; and he is determined to take both
these friends with him when he returns to India.

When the party reaches Mahun it halts in a beautiful
pleasaunce that in spring and summer is one of the
loveliest in Persia, its fountains and cascades, its trees
and flowers making it a veritable enchanted garden in
comparison with the dreary desert on all sides of it-
From here the way leads into the hills, and the next
night, owing to the cold, is passed in a dirty caravan-
serai, its mud-built rooms being without doors or
windows, and the party being almost blinded by the
volumes of smoke when they attempt to light fires.

As the marches are long and the camels go slowly,
every one is up before sunrise, and the traveller sees the
" false dawn," that strange, eerie light that appears and
disappears before a crimson point in the East betokens

TRAVEL 187

the advent of a new day. A chilly wind invariably blows
at this hour, and the Englishman will lead his horse
for a couple of miles to warm himself before mounting ;
such conduct being looked upon as little short of lunacy
by Persians, who never walk a step if they can help it,
and consider it infra dig. for a man to do so if he has
a steed to carry him. Plain after plain stretches in a
wearisome monotony ; range after range of barren
mountains, often with finely serrated outline and
colouring, divide the plains ; and if a stream of water
with verdure on its banks be reached, the party hail it
with delight. At one part of the road it seems as if a
great avalanche of mud had overwhelmed the district in
prehistoric days, and receding had left a hundred weird,
fantastic shapes. Pinnacles and columns, huge animal
forms that could only be seen in a nightmare, bastions
and castles, rise up on all sides round the party, and
Akbar and the shuturchis (camel-men) call out to
one another that they are in the country of the demons,
and it is well for every one that they have not wandered
into this enchanted district after sunset.

A few days after leaving the snowy peaks and ice-
bound streams of the Kerman highlands. Bam, the
frontier town of Persia previous to the annexation of
Baluchistan, is reached ; and in this district of date-
palms, pampas grass, and running streams will be felt
the first touch of the oppressive heat to be encountered
later on. The town, mainly a collection of palm-leaf
matting hovels, and dominated by a picturesque fortress
built on a mountain spur, seems stifling as it lies
embosomed in feathery date-trees. After fresh supplies
of rice, flour, tea, and sugar have been laid in, the
camels leave behind them the spot where the ill-fated

i88 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Lutf Ali Khan, the last of the Zend dynasty, was
treacherously captured, and push southward to Regan,
beyond which village Persian Baluchistan is entered.
Owing to the abundance of water, the country here
is wooded. Great plumy tamarisk-trees, starred with
rosy blossom, acacias, feathery pampas, and the konar-
tree all grow luxuriantly, and in the distance the
splendid cone of the extinct volcano Kuh-i-Basman
stands up superbly. The strident note of the francolin
is heard everywhere ; and the traveller sallying out
with his gun has such good luck that all fare
sumptuously for a couple of days on these fine
partridges.

But this life and vegetation are merely a fringe on
the edge of the desolate Lut, and now the caravan
enters Baluchistan. This is a country where the debris
from the low, mean-looking hills is scattered so thickly
over the valleys that fast riding is dangerous ; where the
tamarisk scrub and palmetto flourish ; and where the
water-supply is frequently of the scantiest and more
often brackish than sweet. It is an unprepossessing-
looking land, and the inhabitants, who live usually in
shanties of palm-leaf matting, are far darker and smaller
than the Persians and in some parts show signs of negro
origin. The national costume of the men consists of a
long shirt, baggy trousers, and big turban, all of white
cotton, and would be a becoming one were it not
usually so badly in need of washing. Their greasy
black hair is, as a rule, uncut and matted, but the
young dandies affect bunches of curls hanging over the
ears ; and a long ringlet, shining with oil, often trails
down the chest. All are careful to pluck out the centre
of their beards and moustaches in order that these

TRAVEL 189

adornments may not be defiled if their possessors drink
wine, and this custom gives them a curious appearance.

The women, poor things ! thin, ugly, and prematurely
aged, wear long black or white woollen garments with
black veils over their heads ; but leave their faces
uncovered, this dress making them look curiously like
nuns, as they glide in and out of their squalid palm-leaf
huts. Both men and women are utterly uncivilised and
ignorant when compared with the Persians, and are
incorrigibly lazy and " slack." This the traveller finds
to his cost if he has much to do with Baluchi
camel-drivers, those once in the employ of Major
Sykes ^ asserting that their camels could not march at
night and must graze all day !

They are all strict Sunnis, and bear an unextin-
guishable grudge against the Shiah Persians who
conquered them some fifty years ago ; and the Sahib
will have to keep his followers well in hand in order to
prevent friction arising on religious grounds. For
exam.ple, if his servants, following the common Persian
custom, vituperate the Khalif Omar, a fight will almost
certainly take place between them and the fanatical
Baluchis.

Now and again a village will boast a tiny mud-
built mosque with a low roof of palm-beams ; but the
religious life of the people appears to be chiefly centred
in the shrines. These ziarats are met with every-
where, and are large cairns of stones on which are
placed sticks to impale the fluttering rags torn from
the garments of those who hope to gain some favour
from the saint buried beneath. Sometimes the shrine
is hung with camel-bells, presumably to call the holy
' " Ten Thousand Miles in Persia."

190 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

man's attention to the petitions offered up, and they
are usually adorned with the horns of ibex and
moufflon to signify power.

Mr. Floyer/ however, considers that half these
cairns are frauds, as he himself walking on ahead
of his caravan, used sometimes to collect a few stones
together, and he noticed that when his native camel-
men reached the spot, one and all would add to
the heap.

Palms are the chief source of wealth in Baluchistan,
a man's worldly position being regulated by the number
of date-trees he possesses ; and when the caravan
reaches some oasis in the general sterility, the groves
of waving palms beside rippling streams and the green
of springing wheat and barley will appear like an
earthly paradise in contrast to the sandy desert that
stretches on all sides.

After the picturesque mud-built fortress of a village
is left behind him, the traveller may march through
a region of black and reddish-coloured volcanic hills,
where not a bird or an animal is to be seen, the
only signs of life being small lizards, their colouring
imitating so exactly the debris littering the valleys
that it is impossible to distinguish them when motion-
less. This gloomy district will be full of strange echoes,
and weird cries will be heard that cause the party to
keep as near the Sahib as possible, all Persians
believing that if they are in the company of an
European no jinn or ghoul can appear.

Later on the Bampur river will be struck, and the
groups of lofty tamarisks, oleanders poisonous to the
unwary camel, and occasional clumps of graceful palms,
' "Unexplored Baluchistan."

TRAVEL 191

give a park-like appearance to the scene, through which
meanders the water, strewn with rush-clad islets. But
Sir Thomas Holdich ^ writes : " The fact is that Makran
is a country about which a man may write much as
he pleases and never stray far from the truth." And
he gives another aspect of the country in a passage that
makes the landscape " leap to the eye " when he says :
" The mountain scenery ... is not exhilarating, a
dead monotony of laminated clay backbones, serrated
like that of a whale's vertebrae, sticking out from the
smoother outlines of mud ridges which slope down
on either hand to where a little edging of sticky
salt betokens that there is a drainage line when there
is water to trickle along it ; and a little faded decoration
of neutral-tinted tamarisk shadowing the yellow stalks
of last year's forgotten grass along its banks, . . ."

In marching through this land the traveller will
be thankful that his horses are shod a la Persane, for
an English shoe could not adequately protect the hoof
on the stony plains thickly strewn with every kind of
sharp-cornered pebble and boulder.

There are not many horses in Baluchistan, it being
looked upon as a sign of wealth for a man to possess
one; therefore "camelry" takes the place here of the
cavalry of Persia. This picturesque-looking force is
composed of wild-looking Baluchis who ride in pairs
on running camels, and are armed with antique Je^azls
(Persian rifles) and long, curving knives, and carry
leather, brass-embossed shields.

As the party makes its way southward the heat grows
greater, and soon the daily march begins at 3 a.m., all
getting into camp about 9 a.m., and the traveller trying
' "The Indian Borderland." (Perso-Baluch Boundary.)

192 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

to make up for his short night's rest by a midday-
siesta. This is usually difficult, as the tent, unless
pitched in the shade of palm-trees, is unbearably stuffy;
the flies buzz without intermission, trying to find their
way through the mosquito net with which his head
and shoulders are enveloped, and there are almost
daily sand-storms. These shaitans (devils), as the
Persians call them, often blow down the tents, insecurely
pegged in the loose soil, until experience teaches the
party to put boxes on the guy-ropes : they are also
irritating because they cover everything with a layer
of dust, filling the Sahib's hair, eyes, and ink-pot,
not to speak of his food, with grit.

If he is interested in the past history of the country,
the traveller will be disappointed when he reaches Bam-
pur, the old capital of the province, to see nothing save
a mud-built fortress, situated on what is apparently an
artificial mound ; and he will soon leave its squalid palm-
leaf huts and push on to Fahraj, the present capital,
rich in palm-groves and streams of delicious water.
Here he will look for traces of Alexander the Great's
army ; but the inhabitants cannot produce any coins
or pottery, though the sight of great mounds of debris
that might reveal the secrets of the past is tantalising.
He will be told that further east, at Jalk and Ladgusht,
are the mud-built mausoleums of the Kaianian Maliks,
as the natives call them, who ruled over the country
until conquered by Nadir Shah ; and every here and
there he will notice how carefully the now utterly barren
hillsides are terraced, testifying to a considerable cultiva-
tion in past centuries. But with the heat over 97° in his
tent, with the grumbles of his Persian servants in his
ears, and the mute suffering of his horses ever before

TRAVEL 193

his eyes, he can only think of the best way to the coast ;
and decides to negotiate the mountain passes and dry
river-beds between Fahraj and Gwadur, a route that
Baluchis look upon as constituting an excellent road
for these parts.

Since he left Tehran several weeks ago, the English-
man has had an abundant and varied experience of what
travel in Iran means ; but he has not yet grasped the
danger of camping in the dry bed of a watercourse, not
knowing that heavy rain, falling perhaps a hundred
miles distant, may send a roaring torrent from the hills
that will sweep away everything in its path. Alexander
the Great's camp was destroyed in this fashion, and in
this very country some three centuries before Christ ;
and the Baluchis have a saying that a wise man when
crossing the bed of the Mashkel river will never stop
to adjust the rope that keeps his sandal of palmetto
fibre in its place, so sudden and unexpected is the
onslaught of these seelabs. The Sahib's last adventure
in Baluchistan might have had a disastrous ending.
His tents were pitched in the bed of a dry torrent ; the
camels and horses browsed on the banks above ; and
preparations were in full swing for the evening meal,
when, with hardly any warning, a wall of water was seen
bearing down upon the encampment. Master and men
fled for their lives, and from the bank ruefully watched
tents, stores, and personal belongings of all kinds being
v/ashed away down the river, that night being a sad
and supperless one. However, things might have been
far worse, Gwadur was only a couple of marches distant,
and as the dispirited caravan followed the course of the
stream on the morrow, they recovered various things
that had been stranded high and dry by the flood that

194 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

carried them away. Here was a box with the remains
of the suppHes, there the Sahib's saddle, and all rejoiced
at the sight of one of the tents caught in a swirling
eddy of what was now a good-sized river. Even with
these alleviations the two days before the caravan
reached the comparative comfort of Gwadur were a time
of considerable deprivation ; but when the English-
man said goodbye to his servants and camel-men and
found himself and his beloved horses on board a
British India steamer bound for Karachi, he heaved a
sigh of regret that what he considered to be one of
the best times of his life was over.

The reader of this chapter may not unnaturally
wonder wherein lies the charm of such travel ; for the
writer has spoken of extremes of heat and cold, of
sand-storms and gales, of the occasional lack of food
and the frequent presence of bad water, besides various
other discomforts. Certainly all these form a part of a
journey through Iran ; but the true traveller learns to
do without much that he has hitherto looked upon as
necessary ; and he is enjoying such perfect health, is so
thoroughly " fit " that he is almost immune to changes of
temperature. There is also an exhilarating sense of
power in his capacity for surmounting the various
obstacles in his path, and if he has been over-civilised
all his days, the song of the desert leading him ever
forward into undiscovered lands where possibly ad-
ventures may await him, has an indescribable enchant-
ment. Again, he is an Englishman among Orientals,
and it adds something to his pride of race to see how
instinctively Persian and Baluch look to the Sahib in
all emergencies ; and he feels, as never before, that in a
way he himself is upholding, in a Vjery slight degree, the

TRAVEL 195

honour of the British Empire. Half-unconsciously, he
knows that his conduct day by day is setting the
standard by which his compatriots will be judged, and
such a thought is a powerful stimulus to keep a man at
his best.

Rudyard Kipling, in one short poem, has summed up
the inexplicable fascination of such journeys, and the
true-born traveller cannot read " The Feet of the Young
Men " without a quickening of the pulses and a thrill of
fellow-feeling, for he too knows the compelling force of
the Wanderlust. As the haunting refrain sings —

"He must go — go — go away from here !
On the other side the world he's overdue.
'Send your road is clear before you when the old

Spring-fret comes o'er you
And the Red Gods call for you !"

CHAPTER X
THE PERSIAN WOMAN

EUROPEANS travelling in Asia sometimes assert
cheerfully that all is well with the Eastern
woman, and that she would not change lots with her
Western sister if she could, as she is thoroughly con-
tented with things as they are. When, however, we
come to look at the facts of the case, we shall find
that the picture they compose is by no means one of
roseate hue. " Woman is a calamity, but no house
ought to be without this evil," is a well-known saying,
and sums up the opinion which Persians have of the
" fair sex," Saadi reflecting on their intellect by writing,
" To consult women brings ruin to a man."

There is seldom any welcome for the Persian baby-
girl as she comes into the world, and is deposited in
a common cradle, instead of the silken one that would
have been her lot had she been a boy. Her nurse
goes in fear and trembling to announce the news of
her birth to her father, for the irate man may possibly
order the luckless woman to " eat sticks," if he has set
his heart on having a son, and the baby's mother feels
that she may be divorced for her failure in presenting
her husband with an heir.

Of course no feast is held in the child's honour, there

196

THE PERSIAN WOMAN

197

are no congratulatory visits from friends, and the little
thing grows up practically unnoticed.

If she is one of several, she will play and perhaps
do lessons with her brothers until about the age of
eight, when her so-called education will stop. It is a
rare thing in Persia to find a woman who can read and
write, there being no such thing as a girls' school
in the whole country. The child's life will be spent
in the anderoon or women's apartments, and she will
be taught to embroider, to cook and make sweets and
sherbets ; but if her parents are rich, her time will
probably be passed in absolute idleness.

All Persian houses of any size have a birooni and an
anderoon. The birooni, or men's rooms, are approached
from the street, a high mud wall hiding the house
entirely, and once through a strong outer door a
passage leads to a courtyard on to which several rooms
open and which has a tank in the centre. It would be
folly for a man to make any ostentatious display of
wealth unless he were in a position that rendered him
secure from being " squeezed " by any greedy governor,
not to speak of the sovereign himself, therefore the
birooni, where he sees his friends, and where any one
may visit him on business, is always badly furnished.

It is in the anderoon, which is invisible from the outer
courtyard, though the only approach to it is through
this latter, that the master of the house keeps his
women, his choicest carpets and silken divans, and the
second-rate European lamps and pictures so dear to
his heart. Here are sunk beds of flowers round the
tank, which perhaps is lined with vivid blue tiles,
and possibly, if the space be sufficient, a tree spreads
its welcome shade in a corner of the enclosure. So

198 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

careful are the Persians to ensure the privacy of their
women that men hardly ever walk on the flat roofs
of their houses, fearing lest they might be suspected
of a wish to peep down into the courtyards of neigh-
bouring anderoons.

This seclusion, penetrated by no man save the
husband and near relatives, would be like a prison to
an Englishwoman ; but a well-to-do Persian lady has
no wish for exercise, and cannot take an outing without
suitable escort. Her indoor dress gives somewhat of
a shock to European eyes. The very short, full trousers
not reaching to the knee^ are said to be in imitation of
the ballet-girls, who charmed Nasr-ed-Din Shah on his
journeys to Europe, and the legs and feet are usually
bare in summer, though drawers and socks are worn
in winter. The loose gauze summer jacket is trans-
parent, and the head appears to be the only part which
it is incumbent to cover, the chargat, or handkerchief,
being worn by day and by night. If a woman, under
the influence of some strong emotion, were to tear this
off, it would be a sign that she was so overcome by her
feelings as to be lost to all sense of propriety for the
time being.

Europeans cannot understand why Persians consider
a lady's decolletee dress immodest, when the costume
of their own women leaves so little to the imagination ;
but the reason is that no male eyes save those of her
husband and relatives, ever rest upon a Persian lady's
charms.

At the present time many women don what they call
an " English dress " on smart occasions, wearing a fitted
bodice and draping a chadar from the waist to the
feet ; but this fashion is the exception and not the rule.

THE PERSIAN WOMAN 199

The Persian woman's outdoor costume is a complete
disguise, as she is shrouded from head to foot in a
shapeless black chadar. Trousers and socks in one,
usually of green or purple, are drawn up to her waist,
and over her face is a white silk or cotton covering
with a small strip of lace-work across the eyes. Her
own husband would probably be unable to recognise
her did she pass him in the street, and however
charming her figure may be, she looks a mere waddling
bundle, shuffling along in heelless slippers. Sometimes
the face-cloth is of finely woven horsehair, giving its
wearer a ghoulish and sinister appearance as she goes
on her furtive way; and as a woman's voice may not be
heard in public, her absolute silence helps to surround
her with an air of mystery, which is increased by the
fact that death would be the penalty paid by any man
rash enough to lift her veil. In appearance, Persian
women are not tall, have small hands and feet, and
their rather heavy, oval faces are lit up by fine, dark eyes,
but they are usually too stout for English taste. Their
white skin has little colour or transparency ; but their
passion for powder and rouge makes it hard to judge
of their complexions fairly, and they use kohl to
impart a languishing look to their eyes, and to greatly
widen the eyebrows, often making these meet across
the bridge of the nose. Their abundant black hair is
cut in a straight fringe across the forehead, and any
scantiness in their locks is compensated for by addi-
tions of horsehair. A Persian poet in describing female
beauty, winds up his panegyric with the following
lines : —

" Her face is like the full moon
And she waddles like a goose " !

200 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The women, in their restricted existence, are thrown
entirely upon themselves for amusement, even boys and
girls not being allowed to mingle ; therefore they give
parties to one another to show off their clothes and
jewellery, spending as much money as they can cajole
from their husbands on personal adornment.

Their visits to the public baths are occasions for
gossip and display. They spend several hours over
their bathing, reposing on cushions while their hair
is dyed with henna and indigo, and the nails and tips
of their fingers and toes with the juice of the former
plant ; and then they eat a light lunch in the steamy
atmosphere in company with their children, who are
bathed free of charge.

A healthier amusement is to drive or ride to some
garden outside the town, where the ladies will pass the
day in the open air. If they have no carriage they
will sit astride upon a horse or donkey, led at a foot's
pace by a servant, and they will feel the summer heat
considerably, wrapped up so closely in their black
chadars.

The custom of veiling is supposed to have come
about in this wise. In the time of the Prophet the
Arab women showed their faces unashamed, and
Mohammed being attracted by the beauty of the wife
of Zeid, his adopted son, asked that devoted adherent
to give her to him in marriage. This action caused
considerable scandal among his followers, though the
husband himself made no objection at divorcing his
wife in favour of his master ; and the Prophet, seeing
that he had set an undesirable precedent, commanded
that henceforth women should only show their faces
to their male relatives. He also dared to say that he

THE PERSIAN WOMAN 201

had received a Divine revelation permitting this
union, and this sura (number 33) is duly incorporated
in the Koran, and at once removed all doubts on the
part of the Faithful.

The Persians, however, have a different version of
the origin of this custom. They say that one day
when Mohammed was seated with Ayesha, the best-
loved of his wives, a passing Arab, admiring her good
looks, offered her husband a camel in exchange for
her, and this annoying experience produced the veiling
order in Islam.

Of course the great interest in the life of a Persian
girl is her marriage ; but she has practically no choice
in the matter, her parents arranging the whole affair.
There is a well-known saying : " To do things quickly
is of Satan, because God works slowly. Haste is only
permissible in three matters which are as follows :
to get a husband for your daughter, to bury your
dead, and to set food before a guest."

In earlier times girls were married when eleven or
twelve years old ; but now a later age is fortunately
considered more suitable.

Money enters largely into the question, the parents
of a daughter having to give two or three hundred
tomans to every hundred possessed by the man : they
do not appear to take the personal likes and dislikes
of the future couple much into consideration, daughters
frequently being handed over to men old enough to
be their fathers or even grandfathers. If a girl is
wedded to a cousin, which is constantly done to keep
the property of a family together, she will never
have exchanged a word with him since childhood,
except in the family circle, and if a marriage is on the

202 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

tapis it is considered unseeemly for the young lady
to visit at the house of the aspirant to her hand. In
fact, the couple are not supposed to see one another
at all until the formal betrothal before a miilla takes
place, and on this occasion the fiancee's face is so
thickly covered with rouge and powder, and her eyes
so painted up that it is difficult to get any idea of her
natural charms : moreover, she goes through the cere-
mony in total silence. ^'""T^

A really smart wedding may last for five days and
nights, or even for a whole week, the ladies arrayed
in beautifully embroidered clothes and wearing all
their jewellery. They will sip sherbets, drink syrupy
tea, smoke kalians, and gossip incessantly ; but the
bride-elect is hardly noticed on these occasions, and
sits apart in silence with bent head and her chadar
drawn over her face. The guests will present her with
jewels, sugar-loaves ornamented with gold-leaf, or big
bowls made of sugar-candy with candy stalactites
standing upright in them ; and she herself will have her
eyebrows widened with indigo, over which is a line of
gold-leaf, while tiny flowers will be painted with indigo
on her cheek-bones, chin, and throat. In the midst of
the dancing and playing by hired musicians, the cry will
be raised, " Behold the bridegroom comes ! " and a great
helter-skelter takes place, every one present, bride, ladies,
singers, dancers, servants, and slaves hurrying pell-mell
into an inner room, screened off by curtains, from behind
which they peep at the bridegroom and his particular
friends, who come to eat sweetmeats in the anderoon.
The bridegroom sits in state on a chair, while slaves
bring him presents from the bride, serve him and his
company with refreshments and water-pipes, and amuse

THE PERSIAN WOMAN

203

them by dancing. This visit of ceremony lasts about
half an hour, after which the men retire, and the women
rush back in a body into the room, which they have been
obliged to vacate.

The English lady to whom I am indebted for this
account said that on one occasion the litle girl-bride
who had not been allowed to peer between the curtains,
asked her eagerly whether her future husband looked
good-tempered, as she had not as yet seen his face !

On the last day of the wedding the bride, who has
taken practically no share in all the merry-making, is
carried off by her nearest relatives to a private bath,
where her face and eyebrows are freshly rouged and
painted, and on her return to the guest-room all the
women rise, and a copy of the Koran is held over her
head for luck and also a mirror to double the length of
her life.

Then her Jahaz, or dowry, which has been laid on
large wooden trays for all to see, and which consists
of many clothes, cooking utensils, lamps, third-rate
European oleographs and vases, is carried off to her
new home by porters, and the bride is ready to follow
them.

She kisses the hearthstone of her old home, and
carries bread, salt, and a piece of gold with her for luck,
and then, closely veiled, is lifted on to a large donkey
gaily adorned with many-coloured woollen tassels and
cowrie shells. A couple of slaves, who form part of
her dowry, accompany her on small donkeys, and a
great crowd of friends go with her to the house where
her husband awaits her.

The Persians have a saying, " The God of women is a
man, therefore all women must obey men." This they

204 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

certainly put into practice, looking upon their wives as
inferior beings born to submit to their rule, a husband
having the right, if he so chooses, of forbidding his wife
to visit her own parents, A bride usually passes from
the paternal yoke to the probably heavier one of the
husband and mother-in-law combined, Persians living
in patriarchal fashion — a custom productive of many
quarrels.

There is seldom any real friendship or intimacy
between the wedded couple, and often the husband will
pass all his days in the birooni, where his wife may
not enter, and will have his meals served to him there,
his womenkind eating what he may leave.

Mohammed says in the Koran that God, having
given men dominion over women, husbands may punish
their wives if the latter are disobedient. As a result
of this, wife-beating is not uncommon ; a hen-pecked
husband is a rara avis; and unfaithful wives are put
to death, probably by being forced to take poison, no
inconvenient questions being asked about their sudden
decease. The Christian ideal of marriage is not under-
stood, and indeed there is little sanctity in a tie that
can be destroyed so easily by divorce, and where the
husband is allowed four legal wives, and as many
irregular connections as he pleases, including the house-
hold slaves.

A Persian may divorce his wife for no other cause
than his own caprice ; but in such a case is supposed to
give back the dowrj'- that he received with her. If,
however, the wife asks for the divorce, although she
may be in the right, she will probably forfeit all she
possesses ; and cases are by no means uncommon where
a husband, tired of his wife, but determined not to

THE PERSIAN WOMAN 205

refund her dowry, ill-treats her in order to force her to
sue for a divorce. It can easily be understood that,
owing to the seclusion in which the women live, it is hard
for them to get justice if they have no powerful relations
to help them. If a man has uttered the formula of
divorce in a fit of anger, and wishes to have his wife
back, she must first be married to and divorced by
another man before he is able to do so.

A wife is above all things anxious to become the
mother of a son, as unless Allah grants her this she will
almost certainly be divorced, or a rival will be intro-
duced, and she will probably lose the affection of her
husband, and be held in small esteem by his family and
her own friends. In the golden-domed Mosque of Kum
dedicated to the sainted Fatima, in the meanest mud
building supposed to be haunted by the Peri-banou, or
Queen of Fairies, or beside some tree hung with
fluttering rags, the poor women of Persia lavish prayers
and offerings to unseen powers in the hope of becoming
mothers of sons.

A husband often neglects his wife when she is old ;
but fortunately her children are usually attached to her,
there being much filial piety in Persia. When she feels
that she is nearing her latter end, the thought of going
on a pilgrimage often comes into her mind, because the
heaven accorded to women by the Prophet cannot be
attained by them with the same ease as apparently the
men can enter into their Paradise — in fact tradition
states that when Mohammed was permitted a glimpse
into hell, he informed his followers that women were in
an enormous majority in that fiery realm ! When we
read that the Infernal Regions are haunted by lions and
vipers, the former armed with seven thousand teeth and

2o6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the latter with seven thousand poison fangs, which
incessantly torture the evil, who are lapped in seas of
fire, and are for ever in the company of malignant
devils, it can be understood that an imaginative woman
will make heroic efforts to escape such a doom !
She will sell or raise money on her valuables, and
persuade her husband to let her go to Mecca, Kerbela,
or Meshed, in order to gain the coveted titles of Haji,
Kerbelai, or Meshedi.

Supposing that the latter is chosen, the journey to
the famous shrine of Imam Reza, being probably the
easiest and cheapest, the Persian lady has no light
task before her. If she cannot afford the swaying
takht-i-rdiVan, or litter drawn by two mules, she
must sit cramped up in a kajavek, or pannier,
strapped on to one side of a mule, in which she will
be jolted for hour after hour. However hot the weather
may be, she must keep her face hidden by her
black chadar and white rou-band ; and when she
arrives at her night's destination, probably half-dead
with fatigue, her resting-place is usually in the highly
uncomfortable and dirty caravanserai. Her room may
be a recess without door or window, and although
her servants will sweep it out and lay a cotton carpet
on the floor, and hang another across the opening,
she will in all probability have a restless night, dis-
turbed by the noise of the animals and the conversation
of their masters.

Women frequently die on the road during these
pilgrimages ; but if a lady arrives in safety at her goal,
she will probably settle down for several months, and
pay daily visits to the Shrine to which she presents
offerings of gold and jewellery. She will be met as she

THE PERSIAN WOMAN 207

enters the sacred precincts by one of a group of seyids
(descendants of the Prophet), after whom she will
repeat the Arabic formulas of devotion, and she will
hire a mulla to recite a portion of the Koran to her
at each visit. If she attends prayer in the mosque she
will sit in a screened-off part where she is invisible to
the men-worshippers, and can get but scanty glimpses
of the proceedings ; but probably she will find here
friends from her native city, with whom she will have
much conversation.

As her husband has practically managed the house,
paying the servants and engaging or dismissing them,
and as her children are either grown up or in the
charge of some attached slave, there is no need for her
to hurry back to her duties, for she is not greatly
missed in her home.

If she dies at Meshed she will be interred in the
precincts of the Shrine, with the assurance of attaining
to Paradise ; and perhaps if she returns in safety to her
family and passes away at home, her corpse may be
sent in charge of a muleteer to be buried in some
sacred spot, thus forming part of that ghastly caravan
of coffins often met by travellers near Kum or Meshed.
When a woman dies there is a terrible service
enacted at her house after she is buried. All the
ladies of the family and their friends assemble in a
large room, and hired mourners repeat in a wailing
monotone, " Weep for the sister who is lost — lost —
lost!" At each "lost" they strike their naked chests
with the right hand and soon stir up their audience,
who repeat the refrain after them and beat their breasts
in unison. " Weep for the sister wandering in space —
weep — weep — weep ! " So the wail goes on ; and the

2o8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

relatives sob, tear their hair and clothes, and even
knock their heads against the wall in a frenzy of grief
Then suddenly there will be a pause, and cups of
tea and kalians will be handed round to refresh
the mourners before they give vent to new outbursts
of emotion.

The life of a Persian woman, taken as a whole, cannot
be considered a happy one, and the victims of Islam
recognise that their fate is hard when they are brought
into contact with European women. The seclusion of
their lives, with so little outside interest, encourages
hysteria and all sorts of nervous complaints ; and
though the townswoman despises her unveiled peasant-
sister, yet the latter has the best of it, hard though she
may have to work for her livelihood.

Certainly the yoke of Mohammedanism presses
heavily on the Persian woman, and, through her, on the
entire race, for how can a nation make real progress
if the mothers of its men are kept in bondage and
ignorance? In the words of Sir William Muir,i "The
condition fixed by Mahomet for woman is that of a
dependent inferior creature, destined only for the service
of her lord, liable to be cast off without the assignment
of any reason and without the notice of a single hour.
While the husband possesses the power of divorce,
absolute, immediate, unquestioned, no privilege of a
corresponding nature has been reserved for the wife.
She hangs on, however unwilling, neglected, or super-
seded, the perpetual slave of her lord — if such be his
will."

When the writer gained some acquaintances among
Persian women, she found that a latent discontent with
^ " Life of Mahomet."

GABR WOMAN AND CHILD

THE PERSIAN WOMAN 209

their restricted surroundings was fanned into life by the
tremendous contrast between the unfettered existence
of an Englishwoman and their own. It was pathetic
to be urged never to marry a Persian ! " Oh Khanum "
(Lady), a woman would say, "my husband makes me
' eat ' much sorrow. If his pilau or sherbet is not to
his liking he may beat me, and I know that if i had an
illness that made me ugly he would divorce me on the
spot. And when I get old he will treat me worse
than a servant,"

All this the writer was forced to believe when a
Persian boasted to her that his wife trembled in his
presence to such an extent that she could not swallow
a mouthful of food !

Certainly the saying that " no good comes from a
house where the hens crow like cocks," can apply but
seldom to the women of Iran !

CHAPTER XI
COUNTRY LIFE

THE Persian peasant, usually clad in blue cotton
shirt and trousers with a thick felt sleeveless
overcoat, and a felt skull-cap, is a hardy, simple fellow
as he trudges along in his cotton givas^ a comfortable
footgear much resembling bathing-shoes.

Beside him walks his diminutive ass, often sadly
overloaded with bricks, stones from the quarries,
manure, or firewood, but, as a rule, not ill-treated by
its master. If the aforesaid master is a villager, he tills
the land on a kind of feudal system, the owner of a
village providing the ground, the seed, and the tools,
and taking half the produce in payment; no money
passes between him and the peasants, many of whom
have never handled a coin in their lives. When it is a
bad year and the harvest fails or locusts devour the
crops, the landowner feeds his tenants and waits for his
share of the profits until times are better. The food of
a labourer is simple enough, consisting principally of
bread, cheese, and fruit, cucumbers and lettuces, with an
occasional bowl of curds or a little meat at rare intervals.
In Baluchistan and the Gulf district dates are the staple
diet, and as he cannot afford firewood, the villager burns
dried manure and camel-thorn. The peasants are all

COUNTRY LIFE 211

very poor, and besides a share of the produce, they
often have to give the owner of the land so many
kaveh of firewood a year, and perform various other
services for him. About half the Shah's revenue is
derived from taxes in the form of cash or kind imposed
on all districts, towns, and villages, and the greatest
burden falls on the peasantry, the poorest class.
Though the tax-assessors change the sums demanded
from time to time, yet of late years they have always
increased them.

As there are no big manufactories in the country,
and but little trade, farming is the chief occupation ;
and the land well repays cultivation, the most un-
promising-looking soil bringing forth abundantly if
irrigated.

The peasants are not serfs, and are free to leave one
village and settle in another ; yet there is no incentive
for them to overwork themselves, because the landlord
vi^ould be the chief gainer by their efforts, and in all
probability the government tax on his property would
be raised were more land taken into cultivation. The
writer remembers one spring seeing a group of half-
starved peasants working languidly during the Fast of
Ramazan, when their " betters " were all abed sleeping
off the effects of a night of feasting. The men were
offered the remains of the English lunch, and their
head-man stuffed the pilau into the bosom of his shirt,
explaining that no one might touch a grain of the
rice until the sun had set. He added that he trusted
Allah would be merciful to them, and not send a
plague of locusts that year, as these insects had
devoured all their crops of barley during the previous
autumn, and the peasants had been forced to live on

212 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

half-rations throughout the winter, and must continue
to do so until the grain was ripe. Somehow there
was a hopelessness about all of them, a weariness
and lack of purpose and vitality that it was sad to
observe.

The implements used by the villagers are of primitive
description, the V-shaped spade doing about half the
work of an English one, and the plough being merely
a harrow dragged by a yoke of oxen. Sometimes as
many as six yoke turn up the same small patch of
ground, the oxen apparently walking exactly behind
one another, though in reality keeping slightly to the
right or left : in this case the animals are the property
of a contractor who hires them out to plough all the
land in the district. It is curious to notice men
sowing on the unploughed land, the idea being that
the process of ploughing will cover the seed, but to
European eyes it seems reversing the natural order of
things.

Though there are many rain-fed crops grown in
northern Persia, yet as a rule the soil is irrigated.
To facilitate the process all the ground is divided
into squares surrounded by low earth-banks, through
which the water is let in to cover the patches of cultiva-
tion in turn, and to soak them thoroughly. In order to
prevent the caking of the soil, fine sand is thrown over
it, and the melon-beds in particular have a coating of
silver sand about half an inch in depth. The refuse of
the towns is used as manure after it has been left to dry
for a considerable time, and Persians are indefatigable
in carrying off the mud-brick debris of all ruins for this
purpose. The chief crop of the country is barley,
which is the food of horses and mules, as oats are not

COUNTRY LIFE 213

grown, and it is also the food of the poor, wheaten
bread being only for the well-to-do.

The country barley bread is often made in thick
flaps, called sanjak, the name implying that it is
baked on hot stones, which are placed at the bottom of
the oven, and when fresh and crisp it is excellent. The
ordinary oven nan (bread) is made in the shape of thin
cakes about a couple of feet long and a foot wide, the
baker sticking these cakes with a deft movement of his
hand against the sides of the heated oven. Directly
they are baked sufficiently they drop off and are hung
on a big nail or suspended over a horizontal stick in
readiness for purchasers. Persians eat quantities of hot
bread and carry off the long cakes from the bakery
hanging over their arms. Owing to the primitive
methods of grinding the flour there is often a good
deal of grit and even an occasional pebble in this bread.

The rice for the pilau, the national dish of Persia,
comes from the rainy districts round the Caspian, and
tobacco is cultivated here and in the south, the best
coming from Shiraz. Cotton is grown in many places,
and dates are an important product of low-lying parts
of Persia, usually situated near the Persian Gulf, and
constitute the wealth of its inhabitants, a man being
rich in proportion to the number of date-palms that he
owns. Persians say that the tree was introduced by
the Arabs when they conquered the country, the hardy
warriors bringing this portable food with them from
Arabia and casting the stones along their line of march.

The opium poppy is largely grown on the Persian
Plateau and is a real misfortune to the inhabitants, both
men and women becoming addicted to the drug and
even giving it to their babies if sleepless and fretful.

214 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Professor E, G. Browne ^ translates the Persian opium-
smoker's epigram in these words : —

"Sir Opium of ours for every ill is a remedy swift and sure,
But he, if you bear for a while his yoke, is an ill which knows
no cure."

Opium is a very precarious crop, as may easily be
understood when the manner of collecting it is explained.
When the flower petals are falling the poppy-heads are
gashed with a kind of tiny iron comb, and the juice that
slowly oozes out is scraped off the next morning, this
process being repeated twice. If, however, rain happens
to fall when the opium is collecting the juice will all be
washed away from the seed-vessels and of course lost.
On any other occasion a rainy day is regarded with
unfeigned delight in Persia, and indeed the European
who has been some time in the country realises what a
godsend a heavy downfall is to the parched and cracked
soil and what good it will do to the crops that depend,
as a rule, entirely on irrigation.

Though the Persian rejoices in the moist air and the
scent of the wet earth, yet it is hardly credible to what
a state the roads are reduced after a day or two of wet
weather. Riding is dangerous save at a foot's pace, the
streets of every town and village run liquid mud, ankle
deep in places, and the roofs of the mud-built houses
have an inconvenient habit of falling in. However, the
sun soon shines forth again and dries up the country.
A hailstorm is a very different matter. The writer saw
such a storm in the north of Persia during April when
the trees were a mass of blossom. Stones as large as
cherries rattled down with a great noise, breaking the
^ "A Year amongst the Persians."

IJ

COUNTRY LIFE 215

glass in all exposed windows, stripping the bloom from
the branches, tearing the young shoots off the rose
bushes, and ploughing up the sunk beds in the garden.
And when the storm was over there was much tribula-
tion in the district, for the orchards, on which many-
depend for a livelihood, were ruined for that year.

As there is practically no grass in Persia, clover is
much used for fodder, several crops being produced
yearly from irrigated ground, and the substitute for hay
is kah, or straw. After the crops of wheat and barley
have been cut with a sickle they are threshed by the
feet of animals that sometimes drag a kind of cart on
rollers. Or this process of threshing may be carried on
by a bevy of horses, mules, and donkeys, all harnessed
together and forced to go round and round a huge heap
of corn, a little of which is tossed beneath their hoofs
at a time, thus separating the grain from the ear and
breaking up the straw. If possible, a breezy day is
chosen for this operation, reminding the onlooker of
the verse in the Psalms in which the evil are to be
" scattered as chaff before the wind." All mud bricks
have an admixture of kah, and Dr. Wills ^ points
out that this was what the Jews demanded when they
asked the Egyptians for straw to make their bricks.

A good deal of silk is produced in Persia, the best silk-
worms' eggs coming from Turkey, and these the land-
lord gives to his peasants, receiving a proportion of the
silk in return. The women often carry the eggs next
their skin in order to hatch them, and have to keep the
caterpillars in a clean room and guard them from all
noise, the buzzing of wasps and flies being supposed to
be injurious to them when they have begun to work.
^ " Persia as it is."

2i6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The grape is cultivated throughout the country, the
vines in the north being planted in deep trenches and
the stems drawn up through the earth of the lofty banks
between the ditches in order to keep the plants warm
through the intense cold of the winter when there may
be several degrees of frost at night. Wine is made in
many places, but the white wines of Hamadan and
Shiraz rank the highest, and it is interesting to note
that natives of this latter city came to Spain in the
Middle Ages to teach the Moors the art of wine-
making : the Spanish town Xeres, where they settled,
and our word "sherry," for the wine produced there
are both corruptions of Shiraz. Saadi and Hafiz
have sung the praises of this wine, which travels all
over Persia in great glass flasks merely packed in straw ;
and from the refuse of the grapes, arrack, the favourite
spirit of the country, is concocted.

A Persian village is picturesque in the distance,
being surrounded by a high mud wall, often castellated,
and entered by a gateway, recalling the days, not so
long ago, when Iran was never safe from raiders and
every hamlet was practically a fortress.

Sir Mortimer Durand ^ gives a word-picture that
vividly describes such a spot : " Beyond the village
a little fan of cultivation pushed up into a fold in the
stony flank of the mountain, A cold stream, fed from
the hills above, came foaming down through a channel
of rough boulders, and on both sides of it grew apple
orchards and poplars and plane-trees." To see such
a place at its best it should be approached at sunset,
when the symbol of the deity, saluted at dawn and eve
by the Zoroastrians, is sinking in a golden glory behind
' "Nadir Shah."

COUNTRY LIFE 217

the western ranges and flushing the eastern hills, the
barren plain and the mud walls and buildings of the
village, with a magical rosy light. The flocks- are
returning to their homes, sheep and goats mixed, black,
white, brown and particoloured, the patter of their little
hoofs making a curious rustling noise on the dry sand.
One old man and a handsome, shaggy, white dog will
shepherd the animals numbering some hundreds, the
man perhaps carrying in his arms a newly born lamb,
while others are in the bag slung on his back.

It is a peaceful scene of pastoral life ; and as the sun
drops below the horizon, the muezzin^ standing on the
minar of the tiny mud-built mosque, sends out the
call to prayer across the stillness of the plain, and
uncouth figures in blue cotton and felt garments
prostrate themselves in devotion, their faces turned
towards holy Mecca.

And the traveller will feel that this is Persia, the
great expanse of desert, the mountain ranges shutting
in his view on either side ; not a tree and hardly a
sign to be seen of vegetation, and perhaps the only
living creature a vulture slowly wheeling in the sky.
Such is the setting of the insignificant group of mud-
domed hovels, all huddled together within their
encircling mud wall, and surrounded by small patches
of cultivation which have to be laboriously irrigated
by the mountain stream. Inside the village it will
be rare for the unplastered mud rooms to have windows,
all light and air reaching them through the rickety and
warped wooden doors, and if the roofs are not of mud,
they will be made of beams, the interstices of which
are stuffed with straw.

The Persians are not a cleanly nation, and the

2i8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

European seeking village hospitality will probably find
the rooms infested with vermin, and as he sinks to
an uneasy rest he will be disturbed by the incessant
angry barking of the peasants' dogs, as they answer the
jackals that are howling round the walls in packs,
seeking their food.

The village women, thin and weather-beaten, are
chosen by their husbands for their strength and for their
skill as weavers and cheesemakers. They work hard at
their household tasks such as making the bread, the
clothes for their families, drawing the water, and milk-
ing the flocks ; and are unveiled, though they occasion-
ally put the checked cotton sheet that envelops them
across their faces if a foreigner approaches. Most of
them look prematurely aged, owing to the early
marriages in vogue, and sometimes resemble the
grandmothers rather than the mothers of the often
rosy-cheeked boys and girls who cling shyly to their
cotton skirts. The children are clad in cotton jackets
which hang open, and the writer has seen them in
the depth of winter with no more adequate protection
than this against the intense cold, and has not wondered
at the terrible infant mortality in Iran. To all remon-
strance the peasants shrug their shoulders and say,
'■'• Dastur dst" (It is the custom) for children to be so
lightly clad ; and they add that if Allah intends them to
die it will be of no use to struggle against His decree —
" Kismet ! "

Nearly every village, however small, has its school,
where the urchins are taught to read the Koran and
to write. There is no government subsidy, therefore
the boys are often entrusted to a teacher totally unfitted
for his task, who sometimes treats his charges with

COUNTRY LIFE 219

cruelty. The parents will pay the schoolmaster in
kind for his services, and he often considers the follow-
ing maxims of Saadi as the pivot of his method :
" The severity of a teacher is better than the fondness
of a father," or, " He whom thou hast not chastised as a
child, will not prosper when he grows to manhood."

Perhaps the people who enjoy life most in Persia
are the nomads, or Iliats. All over the country these
wandering tribes travel in the spring from the mud-
built villages where they have passed the winter, up
into the hills, in search of pasturage for their flocks.
They pitch an encampment of black goats'-hair tents
on some grassy upland during the summer, and devote
themselves to the care of their herds, the women
employing their spare time in the weaving of carpets
and in cheese making. These nomad women are
free, frank, vigorous creatures, accosting the traveller
without shyness, and offering him refreshment. In the
north they wear crimson and blue garments and are
adorned with many chains and heavy silver clasps set
with cornelians. But whether they display jewellery, or
are poorly clad in short, blue cotton skirts showing
their bare ankles and feet, their heads being tied up
in white cloths, the type from the north to the south
is the same. They are on an equality with the men,
whatever their religion may affirm, and are naturally
far healthier and happier than their cloistered and often
discontented sisters in the towns, who despise them
heartily on account of their unveiled faces.

Any account of country life would be incomplete with-
out the mention of gardens. Every well-to-do Persian
takes an intense interest in some stretch of ground
which he lays out and displays to visitors with pride.

220 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

It is badly kept according to Western ideas, and the
writer who was shown many such gardens felt at first
some surprise at their lack of beauty. As a rule they
are square, surrounded by high mud walls destitute
of any creeper, and through them run narrow channels
of water, beside which are planted rows of stiff poplars,
the favourite tree of Persian gardeners. In place of the
beautiful English lawns are often patches of clover
which produce several crops annually, and instead
of the wealth of bloom which is the glory of the British
garden, there will be a few sunk beds in which some
balsams, petunias, asters, marigolds, and wallflowers
make a poor show, and are usually all withered up
during the fierce heats of summer, everything else being
allowed to run wild. Some gardens are really orchards,
and in the spring the exquisite bloom of the fruit-
trees is a beautiful sight ; while other gardens, that
remind the visitor of those in Italy, have pergolas of
vines, avenues of cypresses, groups of pomegranates,
their brilliant flowers shining like flames amid the dark
foliage, and masses of rose-bushes ; and in such charm-
ing retreats the bulbuls sing all day long.

Rose-water {gulabi), which is used to cleanse the
greasy right hand after eating, to flavour sherbets and
sweatmeats, and by the well-to-do for their ablutions,
is much made. The rose chiefly found in Persia
is the little loose-petalled pink one like the monthly
rose, and its petals are pressed down into a great iron
pot, water poured over them, and burning charcoal
piled up round them. A tube is then inserted into
the mass of rose-heads, and passing through a jar
of cold water it drips a warm, sickly-scented liquid
into a bottle placed to receive it.

COUNTRY LIFE 221

In every Persian garden there is a takht, or mud
platform, in the shade of the trees, and if possible near
the running water of the kanat. Here the owner
will pass many hours, reposing on carpets, smoking
his water-pipe, partaking of innumerable cups of tea,
and surrounded by his friends with whom he will cap
quotations from his favourite poets or enter upon
endless religious discussions.

To appreciate a Persian garden it is necessary to
contrast it with the howling desert that is usually
outside its walls. A barren expanse without a tree, a
shrub, or even a blade of grass, and not a drop of water,
must be crossed under the burning heat of the summer
sun, before the traveller hot, dusty, and thirsty, enters a
rickety wooden door and finds a paradise of shade,
greenery, and running water in blessed contrast to the
glare he has just left. A pleasant trait about Persians
is that all are free to come and picnic in these re-
treats, the owner apparently being flattered when
parties of merrymakers invade his solitude — a charac-
teristic in direct opposition to British exclusiveness.
Very often there will be a fantastic little pavilion
always called kolah Feringhi, or " European hat," from
an entirely imaginary resemblance to that article, and
here Persians love to take their midday siestas or to
sup on hot nights.

The garden will sometimes have a house in which the
owner and his family will spend the summer months,
and these buildings are often very pretty, usually
having a verandah supported by poplar columns orna-
mented with elaborate plaster-work, and sometimes
a most imposing gatch (stucco) facade, which will
be mirrored in the large water-tank in front of the

222 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

building. If the owner is addicted to sport, the horns
of the ibex, moufflon, and gazelle will probably decorate
this building, as they are credited with the power of
keeping off the evil eye.

A naringistan, or orangery, is another feature of
such a garden, the owner presenting a fruit from his
treasured trees to the visitor as if it were a beautiful
bouquet of flowers ; and the writer has often been
offered a dried-up little orange by some gentleman
or lady who had come to afternoon tea with her, the
gift being made with almost ludicrous empressement.

As the very existence of a garden depends on its
water supply, a rich man will pay to have the precious
liquid always running through his domain, the ex-
tremely scanty rainfall hardly being taken into account
for purposes of cultivation.

Every few days the water, which is a real luxury in
Persia from its cost, is let in upon the sunk flower-beds,
the patches of lucerne and crops of vegetables, and
allowed to stay for several hours in order to soak into
the soil thoroughly. It is heartrending to be forced to
put up with an inadequate water supply, and if the water
runs through such a garden on its way to others, and
perhaps has only been bought for one day in the week,
it would be a punishable offence to use it for the plants,
though the occupants might take what they pleased for
drinking and washing purposes.

This picturesque passage from a paper read by Sir
George Birdwood^ describes the Persian fondness for
flowers far better than any words of mine can do :
" When a pure Iranian sauntered through (the Victoria

' " The Antiquity of Oriental Carpets," read before the Society
of Arts, November 6, 1908.

COUNTRY LIFE 223

Gardens in Bombay) ... he would stand awhile and
meditate over every flower in his path, and always as in
vision ; and when at last the vision was fulfilled, and the
ideal flower found, he would spread his mat, or carpet,
before it, and sit before it to the going down of the sun,
when he would arise and pray before it, and then refold
his mat or carpet and go home : and the next night,
and night after night, until that bright particular flower
faded away, he would return to it, bringing his friends
with him in ever-increasing numbers, and sit and sing
and play the guitar or lute before it — and anon they all
would arise together and pray before it ; and after
prayers, still sit on, sipping sherbet and talking the most
hilarious and shocking scandal, late into the moonlight :
and so again and again, evening after evening, until the
beauteous flower died, satiated of worship. Some even-
ings, by way of a grand finale, the whole company would
suddenly rise up, as one man, before the bright, com-
summate flower, and serenade it with an ode from Hafiz,
and, rolling up their carpets, depart into the silences of
the outer night."

CHAPTER XII
THE PERSIAN GULF AND THE KARUN RIVER

NAVAL officers often say that the Persian Gulf is
the hottest sea in the world, and the writer, who
has visited it both in June and in September, heartily
endorses their verdict, and has an abiding sympathy for
those of her countrymen whose avocations force them to
spend the best part of their lives on those torrid waters.
For over a century England has policed the Gulf, and
it is to her exertions that the once-flourishing slave trade
and the depredations of pirates are practically a thing
of the past. It is a curious fact that the Persians
appear to be entirely devoid of any naval capacity, and
there were probably no Persian sailors present at
the Battle of Salamis, Xerxes supplying his navy
from the maritime nations under his sway. Iranians
have a dread of the sea, and the countless craft to be
seen off their southern coasts are all manned by Arabs,
as well as the Persepolis, the white-painted vessel,
armed with four Krupp guns, that is supposed to patrol
the Gulf. This steamer is usually spoken of as the
" Persian Navy," and it has no fellows, unless the Shah's
steam-yacht on the Caspian, and his little steamer the
Susa, that is confined to the upper reaches of the
Karun, are allowed to count as forming part of the

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 225

naval strength of the " Land of the Lion and the
Sun."

The southern shores of Persia are washed by the
Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman, as well as the Persian
Gulf; and it may be of interest to describe how the
traveller bound for the Karun river proceeds when he
has left Karachi in a British India steamer. These
vessels are comfortable enough, but the writer's journeys
were made at a time when no fruit and vegetables
were to be had. A diet of chops and steaks with
the wet bulb of the thermometer at 92° is not the most
appetising of fare ; and when it is added that everything
drinkable is tepid owing to the lack of ice, and that
cockroaches abound, it must be allowed that the Gulf in
summer is not exactly the place to choose for a pleasure
trip. An officer who has travelled in many different
parts of the world alleges that a dessert-spoon will cover
any ordinary cockroach, but that the steamy atmosphere
of this sea produces a breed so large that a table-spoon
is needed to hide their formidable dimensions ! The
steamers now do the journey in five days, but they
used to proceed slowly, stopping during the day to take
in cargo from the different ports off which they lay,
and going on at night. Sometimes they carry a great
crowd of deck-passengers, who, if pilgrims on their way
to Kerbela, are often very fanatical, fights occasionally
arising between Shiah and Sunni, in which the plucky
British India officers have sometimes to take their lives
into their hands when separating the angry opponents.
These latter are often " slippery " customers, and occa-
sionally a man will resort to almost any shift to avoid
paying the passage-money which is collected when the
steamer has started. Of course the defaulter is put
Q

226 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

ashore at the first stopping-place ; but as time is of no
object in the East, he will board the next steamer, play
the same game, and be landed a stage further on his
journey !

After leaving Karachi, perhaps in the teeth of the
monsoon^ Gwadur and Jask are reached, both villages
being posts of the Indo-European telegraph line : Jask
was the first settlement made in Persia by the British
East India Company.

From here the steamer crosses to Maskat, the capital
of Oman on the Arabian coast, the long line of dreary-
looking hills, destitute of even a blade of grass, that rise
up sheer from the sea, being suddenly broken, and
forming an almost landlocked little harbour, one of the
most picturesque imaginable. Great cliffs tower on
either side, leaving a narrow strip of land on the sea-
front, from behind which, about a mile inland, is the
formidable mountain barrier making an impressive back-
ground to the huddle of native houses crowded together
as closely as possible. Among these the Sultan's white
palace and the British Residency stand out con-
spicuously ; and two mouldering Portuguese forts,
built on spurs of the mountains, dominate the port,
reminding the visitor that Maskat was in the possession
of Portugal from 1506 to 1650.

On the east side of the little bay is a great mass of
rock, separated by a narrow channel from the mainland,
and this is used as a playground for the British sailor,
who is not allowed to land in the port itself in case of
friction with the dense and fanatical population. This
islet, which has not a trace of vegetation, and seems as
if it would afford but a scanty foothold to goats, is
adorned with the names of the different vessels that

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 22^

have been anchored off the town, prominent among
them being H.M.S. Sphinx in huge, white letters.

The climate in summer is almost unbearable for
Europeans, because the frowning rock walls absorb the
intense heat during the day and give it out at night,
making sleep almost an impossibility when the blessed
shainal, or north wind, is not blowing.

The British entered into a treaty with Maskat in
1800, as they wished to guard against the designs of
Napoleon, who is said to have contemplated the
conquest of India from this base, and since that date
there has always been an English political agent at the
Court of the Sultan.

Before leaving Maskat it may be of interest to glance
at the past history of the Gulf, believed by some
authorities to be the cradle of the human race. It is
supposed that the seafaring Phoenicians took their rise
here, and Erythras, the Red King, who perhaps is
buried in the great necropolis at Bahrein, has given his
name to this inland sea.

Later on, Alexander's admiral, Nearchus, who men-
tions that he saw the tomb of King Erythras at
Kishm, piloted the Macedonian fleet along these seas
from the Indus to the Tigris. Major Sykes^ points out
that Alexander and his army kept in touch with the fleet
in order to provision this latter, until the Malan range,
coming right down to the water's edge, forced the
soldiers to march inland and strike across the modern
Makran, where they endured the horrors of thirst while
marching in heat of about 100'* through loose sand.

After this we hear little of the Gulf for many centuries,
but when the Arabs had established the Khalifate at
^ " Journal of Society of Arts/' June 4, 1897.

228 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Baghdad, that city and Balsora (the modern Busreh)
sent forth hardy sailors down the Gulf to bring back
ewels, stuffs, and spices from India. At the present
day the clumsy native mehalas and buggelows to be
seen at Busreh are practically the same type of vessel
in which Sinbad made his marvellous voyages.

The island of Hormuz was the great centre of this
trade in the Middle Ages, holding much the same
position as Venice did in the West, both being the
distributing houses of their continents.

In the first years of the sixteenth century the
Portuguese, under Albuquerque, made their appearance
in the Gulf. They captured Hormuz, fortified various of
the ports, and allowed no other nation to trade freely in
the Gulf for nearly a century and a half. The first
Englishman who visited this sea was Ralph Fitch, who,
with three companions, sailed up it in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, but the Portuguese, jealous of this
intrusion into their special preserve, captured the
Englishmen and imprisoned them in Goa.

In the seventeenth century Shah Abbas entered into
a treaty with the East India Company, promising them
certain concessions and half the spoil if they would
assist him in turning the Portuguese out of their strong-
holds. This was done, naval fights taking place at
Jask, Hormuz, and Maskat, in which the Portuguese
were worsted, and at last, after several years, expelled
from the Gulf. Shah Abbas having got what he wanted,
was by no means willing to fulfil his side of the bargain,
and it seemed as if the English had gained nothing save
a factory at Gombrun (now called Bandar Abbas, in
honour of the Persian sovereign) ; the Dutch and French
also starting trading centres at the same torrid spot.

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 229

British prestige, however, increased from this time,
and during the last century our nation gradually took
over the work of policing the Gulf The English
suppressed the formidable pirate bands ; stopped the
constant warfare among the different chiefs ; the un-
controlled trade in arms ; and, quite unaided, put
down the once-flourishing traffic in slaves. Added to
this, British officers have done all the survey work of
the Gulf, and made charts of a sea that requires skilful
navigation.

It is no mean thing that the pax Britannica has
been kept in a region where every man's hand is against
his fellow, where life is held in small account and might
is right. Over and over again the British have pro-
tected the sheikhs of such places as Bahrein and
Koweit from Persian aggression, and but for the pre-
sence of our gunboats, the busy traffic in dates, dried
fish, and so on, not to speak of the valuable pearl-
fisheries, would be practically impossible.

Even the British India steamers, which are solely
merchantmen, are looked upon with respect by the
chieftains of the various tribes who come on board to
greet their captains with a Salaam Aliekuni (Peace
be with you). These kingly-looking sheikhs wear
white robes over which are thrown burnooses of black
camel's hair so finely woven as to be semi-transparent,
and the kafiyehs, or handkerchiefs, on their heads are
kept in place by ropes of camel's wool entwined with
gold. With jet-black hair and beards, bronzed skin
and piercing eyes, they stride towards the Englishmen
with peculiar dignity and shake hands with a gesture
that recalls to readers of the life of Mohammed, how at
various crises in his career his followers plighted faith

230 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

with him by striking their hands upon his. The British
Resident at Bushire has a position of great authority
with these wild Arabs, who have a profound belief in
the honour and truth of the English.

Of course it is not meant to be inferred that we have
performed this beneficent work entirely from humani-
tarian motives. We were obliged from self-interest to
suppress the pirates, who were injuring our trade, and
later on we saw clearly that to allow any rival Power
to become predominant in the Gulf would be seriously
to weaken our prestige in India ; but we may fairly take
some credit for the blood and money that we expended
in stamping out slavery.

After this long digression let us continue our journey
to the Karun. Taking a north-west course from
Maskat we shall steer between the islands of Hormuz
(once so famous, though barren, destitute of water, and
with a soil impregnated with salt) and Kishm, where
for some forty years the English had a military station.
Eraser ^ visited the cantonments in the August of
1 82 1, and found a pitiable state of affairs, both officers
and men succumbing to fever or scurvy, a great short-
age of medicines and supplies of all kinds, and no fish,
fruit, or vegetables to be procured, and he draws a
contrast between the " white man's burden " in India,
and Persia, to the great disadvantage of the latter
country.

The steamer then lies off squalid Bandar Abbas,
the sea being so shallow that visitors must row some
two miles before reaching the town that lies close to
the water, and has the distinction of possessing one
of the unhealthiest climates on the Gulf. Lingah, the
' " Journey into Khorasan."

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 231

next halt, is, at a distance, charmingly picturesque, the
white buildings of the town embosomed in feathery
palms, and the whole scene backed with a delicately
tinted pink and grey mountain range. Here Hindoos
with marvellous " wild-cat " moustaches may come
on board, and opening knotted handkerchiefs will dis-
play handfuls of beautiful pearls to the traveller.
Next morning the steamer will probably be lying off
Bahrein, and flotillas of boats setting out for the pearl
reefs look most picturesque as they rock on the vivid
blue sea. At a considerable distance from the shore
men will be seen wading knee-deep and filling jugs
from the fresh springs which are bubbling up beneath
the salt water, and so shallow is the sea that boats can
only get to within about half a mile of the island. This
inconvenience is, however, obviated by the fine Bahrein
asses which are cantered out to any boat containing
visitors. Their riders then descend and yell out the
praises of their respective steeds with great vigour, as
the travellers perch themselves on rudimentary saddles,
unprovided with stirrups, and having rope halters in lieu
of bridles. The town of Bahrein, like all others on the
Gulf, is composed in great part of hovels formed from
palm-leaf matting, and the Sultan's gimcrack palace
is almost the only building, save a mosque, that has
any pretensions to architecture. The traveller's donkey,
much adorned with henna, will take him at a canter
away from the town past the ruins of an old Persian
mosque, past date-groves and streams of beautiful water,
right into the interior of the island. Here, far as eye
can reach, he will see thousands of mounds, the tombs
of a bygone people, and will long for science to solve
the mystery of the identity of the race that built them.

232 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Sir Edward Durand and Mr. Theodore Bent exca-
vated some of these graves, but found little to aid them
in unravelling their well-kept secret, and it is to be
hoped that our Archaeological Department which has
been working there for the last two years may have
more success.

Pearls, of course, are the great specialite of Bahrein,
and the divers are let down from the boats by ropes
weighted with large stones that take them straight to
the bottom of the transparent sea, through which they
can see the oyster-beds. Here they collect all the
oysters they can in the few seconds they are able to
remain below with ears plugged and nostrils closed ;
and they take their lives in their hands, for the Gulf
swarms with sharks and sword-fish to which several
fall a prey every year.

The next stopping-place for the steamer is Bushire,
where we have a British Resident. It is the most
important port on the Gulf and the most pretentious
in appearance, though it is a landing-place rather than
a harbour, and owing to the shallowness of the water
all large vessels have to lie at a considerable distance
off it.

Bushire came into prominence during the Zend
dynasty, being the nearest port to Shiraz which then
became the capital of Persia. To reach this town
from the Gulf it is necessary to cross the most
appalling kotals or passes, in the high mountain
barrier that separates the Persian Plateau from the
sea, and rises some thirty miles inland. It seems
wonderful to the ordinary traveller that men could
ever have ventured to take loaded animals across such
terrible staircases, where the track winds along preci-

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 233

pices down which a false step would hurl the creatures
to destruction. Accidents of this kind, however, seldom
happen, though the sure-footed mules that pick their
way from point to point unaided pay a heavy toll
annually, dying from the exhaustion resulting from
their efforts. The horses are almost as clever climbers
as are the mules, and a heavily-built Persian gentle-
man told the writer with evident pride that he had
never dismounted from his steed in descending these
dangerous kotals. He was somewhat surprised when
he found that his personal bravery had made no
impression upon her, but rather his cruelty to his
willing horse!

From Bushire the low, date-covered shores close in
at the little telegraph post of Fao, where there is a
sand-bar caused by the silt brought down by the
Shat-el-Arab, the river formed by the confluence of
the Euphrates and the Tigris. This can only be
crossed by large vessels at certain times slowly and
with care, and the steamer halts at Mohamera, at which
point the waters of the Karun river join the Shat-el-
Arab before they plunge into the Persian Gulf

Here the traveller must change into a small steamer,
the Malamir, and leaving behind him the great groves
of palms that supply half the world with dates, he will
proceed up a river, on either side of which stretches
a sandy desert diversified with a few willows or beds
of reeds. He is now in the province of Arabistan,
the ancient Elam, and the scenery is far from beautiful,
but the hot, dry wind that swirls the clouds of sand
into the boat at intervals is in delightful contrast to
the moist, damp heat he has just left. Life is worth
living again, and he sleeps as he has never done on

234 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the Gulf. Along the river-banks are Arab encamp-
ments, made of palm-leaf matting, the inhabitants clad
in black goat's-hair garments and their most treasured
possessions being beautiful mares as tame and docile
as dogs.

On the afternoon of the second day, if the steamer
has ploughed through the numerous sand-shoals with-
out running aground on any of them, the traveller
arrives at Bander Nasseri and Ahwaz, where, if he
wishes to proceed further, he must tranship, owing to
the rapids. These villages have grown prosperous of
late years owing to the commerce in corn and wool
started by Messrs. Lynch and Hotz. The simple
Arabs are most honourable traders — a great contrast
in this respect to the Persians — and if, as hardly ever
happens, a man declines to meet his engagements, the
whole tribe will pay what is owing in order to avoid
any slur on its reputation. Curiously enough the Arabs
insist on growing wheat and barley on the same land,
saying that they cannot alter the custom of their fore-
fathers ; and their conservatism necessitates the employ-
ment of a special machine by the agents to separate
the different grains. This whole district could supply
an enormous quantity of wheat, as the soil produces
splendid crops, though the water supply is limited.
But, as usual, the Persian Government takes no steps to
develop this source of potential wealth, and the mullas
do not allow export.

At Ahwaz are still to be seen the remains of the
masonry of the dam, built perhaps by Shapur L,
whose famous band (dam) at Shuster some sixty miles
further up the Karun, still irrigates the great plain and
provides food for thousands. The rapids at Ahwaz

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 235

are caused by a sandstone reef stretching across the
river-bed, the water swirling and rushing with great
force over the rocks at one point. Some three or four
miles from the river this ridge crops up on the desert.
In it are hollowed out many caves, making the traveller
wonder whether they could perhaps have been in-
habited by Nestorian monks in the days when Ahwaz
was a Christian town and a great centre of agriculture.

During the hot July weather of the writer's visit to
Ahwaz, the thermometer, hung in the coolest room
in the house, was always at 105° at eight o'clock
every morning, and went up as the sun rose into the
heavens. Every door and window was shut during the
day ; for the shainal, or north wind, blew like the
blast of a furnace round the house, raising the desert
dust in clouds. The little party of Europeans were
accustomed to rise at 4 a.m. in order to get a ride
before seven o'clock, at which hour the sun became too
powerful to remain safely out of doors. All the world
was astir very early. Men in long, white robes, black
burnooses, and with checked kafiyehs on their heads,
galloped about with their rifles slung at their backs,
and would pull their steeds up suddenly in mid-career.
They all rode mares, and were followed by the colts,
that uttered plaintive whinnyings if the mothers went
too fast, the latter then stopping dead and waiting until
their foals had come up with them.

Mares are usually the only property of any value that
an Arab possesses, and very often three or four men
will hold a valuable animal in common, each man laying
claim to a leg, and this makes it sometimes difficult
for a European to buy a good mount here, as he has
to come to terms with so many owners.

236 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Deforestation has gone on throughout this district,
as in most parts of Persia ; in fact, wood was so scarce
a commodity at Ahwaz when the writer was there, that
the brick-kilns were actually fed with chaff, the staple
fodder of all animals. The town itself could only boast
of a couple of palm-trees and no other vegetation,
though the district when under the Khalifate had been
famed for its sugar-cane plantations.

Despite the great heat, the climate is by no means
unhealthy. The evenings are comparatively cool, and
at night the temperature goes down to 74° Fahrenheit,
the tremendous wind dying away at sunset and turning
into a refreshing breeze, soothing the sleepers on
the flat roofs of the houses.

From Ahwaz a small steamer, the Shushan, lying
on the far side of the rapids, conveys the traveller up the
river to within a six or seven miles' ride of Shuster.
This town was formerly supposed to be built near the
site of the Achaemenian capital Susa, in which was
Shushan, the palace mentioned in the Book of Daniel ;
but in reality the great mounds of this famous city
lie some fifteen miles south-west of Dizful.

Shuster has a famous dam and bridge, the latter said
by Persians to have been built from the designs of the
captive Roman Emperor Valerian, who was kept a
prisoner until his death by his conqueror Shapur I.

The town, one of the dirtiest in Persia, is terribly hot
during the summer, 128° indoors at midday being the
usual reading ; consequently the well-to-do spend their
time in sirdabs or underground apartments. All over
Persia the badgir, or wind-towers, will attract the atten-
tion of the traveller as he approaches any consider-
able town, and he will find that they are shafts to

THE PERSIAN GULF AND KARUN RIVER 237

conduct the air down to a kind of cellar in which is
usually a tank of water. In spite of the draught of air,
these places always smell unpleasantly, probably owing
to the presence of the stagnant water and the absence of
sunlight, and cannot be healthy.

Though really outside the scope of this chapter, yet
the writer feels that a short mention of the Susa of the
Greeks and the Shushan of the Bible, may be of interest.

Madame Dieulafoy,i who accompanied her husband
during his exploration of the great mounds of this once
so famous city, has written a book full of information
on his discoveries, many of which may be seen at the
Louvre Museum.

But these excavations are, as it were, comparatively
modern, when it is remembered that Susa was inhabited
from the earliest times, and was the capital of the
Kingdom of Elam, over which King Chedorlaomer,
mentioned in the Book of Genesis,^ ruled. This
kingdom was finally incorporated into the Persian
Empire by Cyrus the Great.

Close to the great mound of Susa is the so-called
tomb of Daniel, with its white plaster pineapple cone,
and the events narrated in the Book of Esther occurred
at Shushan.

The French, who have, by a concession, the exclusive
right of excavating in Persia, have done much at Susa
since M. Dieulafoy led the way, and it is to be hoped
that the city will yield many more of its secrets to
the spade of the excavator.

' " La Perse, la Chaldee et la Susiane." ^ Genesis xiv. 9.

CHAPTER XIII
FAUNA AND FLORA

IN the " Land of the Lion and the Sun," the king
of beasts was plentiful in olden times, the
Achaemenian monarchs hunting it in the districts
round Persepolis ; and the magnificent sarcophagus of
Alexander the Great, now in the Constantinople
Museum, is supposed to portray the Macedonian
fighting with Persian lions.

According to a well-known legend, the Sasanian
monarch Bahram Gor won his crown by slaying
two lions that were guarding the royal insignia, and
on Sasanian seals this sovereign is represented as
standing between these beasts and holding their fore-
paws in his hands. But nowadays the lion has almost
died out, and perhaps Major St. John, who was
attacked by a lioness in the forest near Shiraz in 1867,
is the last European who has encountered these
animals, although Lord Curzon heard one roar not
far from Shuster, and was told that they were common
on the banks of the Diz.

Major St. John writes ^ that lions are found through-
out the province of Khuzistan and also in the oak
forests south of Shiraz, where there are quantities of
■ " Zoology of Eastern Persia," Blandford.

FAUNA AND FLORA 239

wild pig that live on the acorns, and in their turn
become food for the lions. The native hunters kill
these animals at rare intervals, and the lutis, or
mountebanks, sometimes drag about a starved lion
as a change to the usual bear or ape that accompanies
them.

The dense forests of the districts round the Caspian,
are haunted by tigers that are occasionally shot by
Persian hunters, but Europeans seldom attempt to
follow them through the jungle that they inhabit.
The Romans are said to have drawn the tigers used for
their games from this part of Persia which was called
Hyrcania ; the fur of these animals is thicker than
that of the Indian tiger, the colouring less vivid, and the
markings somewhat different.

Hilly country is the favourite home of the bear, and
travellers occasionally come across a small grey species
that can go as fast as a horse if disturbed. These
animals are in the habit of frequenting the vineyards
after sunset, and devouring enormous quantities of the
fruit, and are particularly fond of walnuts.

There are few travellers who have not heard the
blood-curdling laugh of the hyaena round their tents at
night, and have not seen its slinking, hump-backed form
as they started on their march when dawn was breaking.
These creatures have a very bad reputation in Persia, as
they are accused of attacking sleepers and are even said
to have bitten off the limbs of children sleeping in the
open ; therefore it is curious that a dried hyaena-skin
is a potent charm that forces all to love its possessor.

Leopards are met with from the north to the south,
and the European camping will constantly see their
tracks and hear the complaints of the peasantry whose

240 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

sheep and goats they have killed, but they do little
damage when compared with the wolf, which is the
prime depredator in the country. It hunts in packs and
in couples, but is often seen alone, a rider galloping his
hardest being unable to come up with the animal, which
apparently is only going at a leisurely jog-trot. In the
Meshed district, which is infested with these creatures,
hunters devote themselves to the task of slaying them,
and will carry the head of a wolf round to all the
villages in the neighbourhood, demanding out of each
flock an animal which is called the " wolf's-head sheep."
If the shepherd sees from afar the hunter dangling his
trophy, he will hasten towards him with an offering of
money, begging him to accept it instead of a sheep, but
if the shikarchi comes upon the flock unawares he
has the right to take his fee in kind. Not long ago an
Englishman came across eleven wolves lying on their
backs sound asleep after a gorge, and managed to kill
three of them, with the result that his huntsmen acquired
a respectable flock of sheep.

An English fox-terrier is an almost irresistible dainty
to wolves, which will pounce upon it in broad daylight if
it linger far behind its master, and the writer knew one
that had been seized in puppyhood by a wolf, but
which was rescued by its brave mother ; she, however,
paid the penalty of being torn to pieces. According
to the natives the eye and knuckle-bone of the wolf,
when worn as a talisman, impart to the most
cowardly a superhuman courage. Persians consider the
wild boar to be nejus^ or unclean, and if Europeans
wish to eat ham or bacon they call it gusht-
i-bulbul (nightingale's flesh) in order to " save the
face" of the cook, who has to prepare the accursed

FAUNA AND FLORA 241

meat. Indeed, so far does this feeling go that if the
most pious of Moslems had the misfortune to be killed
by a boar, he would, through no fault of his own,
become so unclean that he would be left for five
hundred years in the fires of hell before he could be
purified ! And yet all grooms have, if possible, a wild
pig in the stable, affirming that its breath is good for
the horses and that it keeps the " evil eye " from them ;
and the European " lucky pig," worn as a charm, seems
to have the same origin as this latter belief.

The pretty, silver-grey foxes are fairly common, and
these vie with the jackals in devouring the grapes
during the fruit season, reminding one of the Biblical
allusion to the "little foxes that spoil the vines."
Reynard has a great reputation for cunning in Persia,
as the following children's story will testify : —

" A fox once stole the grapes in a garden," so it runs,
" and the owner laid a trap for the thief, baiting it with
meat. When the fox next visited the vineyard he saw
the snare, and understanding its purpose he hurried to
the wolf and bade him come to a feast that he had got
ready for him. The stupid wolf was only too ready,
and when the fox pointed out the meat he made a rush
to seize it and was instantly caught in the trap.
Reynard then scrambled to the top of the garden wall
and made such an outcry that the owner came in haste,
and, seeing the wolf, killed it ; and when the coast
was clear the fox descended and devoured the meat
that the wolf in his struggles had thrown free of
the snare ! "

Saadi, however, does not give the animal so astute a
character. " A fox," he writes, " was one day seen
fleeing in an extremity of fear, and being asked what

R

242 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

was the matter, replied, ' I have heard that camels are
being forced into the army.' ' You fool,' said his inter-
locutor ; ' you are not a camel, and not in the least like
one.' ' Hush ! ' answered the panic-stricken animal, ' if
an enemy says I am a camel and I am captured, I have
no friend to release me or to bear witness in my
favour.' "

The jackals hunt in packs and make night hideous
with their yells during the hot weather, when all windows
must perforce be open. They roam round the towns
and villages, doing much execution among the poultry,
and being great pests in the vineyards ; but it is a
puzzle how they support life during the winter, as they
do not appear to hibernate. The leader of the pack
always utters its long-drawn howl to summon its followers
on the coldest night. These will answer by short yelps
and barks until all, as it were, have responded to the roll-
call, and the pack will set off at full cry, its yells sound-
ing in the distance much like the weeping of children.
The Persians have proverbs regarding this animal, such
as "The jackal dipped himself in indigo and then
thought he was a peacock," and, " The yellow dog is
brother to the black jackal," meaning that "one is as
bad as another." These shagals will enter rooms at
night, and the writer has been aroused more than once
by the snorting of one of them prowling round her in
search of food. They are harmless enough ; but as they
are said to be peculiarly liable to rabies their visits
are certainly not to be encouraged.

The Arabic historian, Al Tabari,i relates that jackals
first made their appearance in Persia during the reign
of Khosru the Great, and the king, on making inquiries
^ Noldeke's translation.

FAUNA AND FLORA 243

as to the origin of this visitation, was told that these
animals were in the habit of infesting any land in which
injustice and corruption were rife. The monarch there-
upon impressed upon his ministers the duty of acting
uprightly, and it is said that as long as justice was
paramount in the land there were no more jackals.
At the present time these animals are very numerous
in Persia, and it will be interesting to observe whether
they will vanish if the Constitution, now in its infancy,
accomplishes all that its admirers expect of it.

Throughout the Persian Plateau gazelle, or ahu^
roam the vast plains, and the fleet wild ass haunts the
kaviVy or salt-desert, the Sasanian monarch Bahram
Gor getting his nickname from his devotion to the
chase of this animal Tradition has it that he and his
horse perished in a quicksand on one of these hunts,
and relates that though the queen-mother brought a
thousand men to the spot, who dug for a thousand days,
yet no trace of the royal victim was ever found. The
poet Omar Khayyam refers to this tragedy in the
lines : —

"And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his sleep."

The ibex and the wild sheep are found in the
mountain ranges from north to south, and the writer
has seen herds of both animals browsing on the same
feeding-grounds, the Persian shikarchis looking upon
this as most unusual. The animals leap from crag to
crag of the dangerous mountains with marvellous
agility, and it is a beautiful sight to see them bound
down what looks like a precipice, then spring across
a ravine and dash up another hill out of sight.

244

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The native huntsmen do not greatly molest the hare
as it is considered nejus, or unfit for food, though the
tail of a hare placed under the pillow is recommended
as a powerful soporific.

The mongoose and a large porcupine are found in
the south, where pretty little jerboa rats are numerous
on the desert plains ; voles and marmots inhabit the
north, and mice swarm everywhere.

But we must now say a few words about the domestic
animals of Persia, the horse coming first in a country
of keen riders. The big, somewhat ungainly-looking
Turkoman with its long stride and fiddle-head is of
the breed used by the man-stealing Turkoman in their
forays, and has great powers of endurance, being able
to go fifty or sixty miles daily with little food or
water, besides being able to outpace any other kind of
horse in Persia. The handsome, bay Karabagh, big-
boned and a good weight carrier, is a favourite, it
and the Turkoman being bred in the north, and the
so-called Arab principally in the districts round Shiraz.
These latter horses, a mixture of Persian and Arab,
are delightful to ride, carrying their heads and tails
proudly, being wonderfully sure-footed, and so full
of spirit and endurance that Persians say they have
dil-i-buzurg (a great heart) ; moreover, they get
much attached to their owners, whom they will follow
like dogs. Some are exported to India by way of the
Persian Gulf, and are sold there under the name of
" Gulf Arabs."

The common horse of the country, coarse-bred and
heavy-footed, but serviceable, is called a yabu, or
pony, and is used to mount servants or to carry water

FAUNA AND FLORA 245

and loads. As a rule a yahu, hung with bells and
gaily-coloured woollen tassels, leads any large caravan
of mules, these animals following it implicitly and
refusing to set off on the march without its guidance.

Persians never clip their horses, and keep them much
covered up. First a blanket over the whole body
(the perkan), then a Jul, or felt-lined covering, over
which, during the winter nights, is drawn the nammad,
a very thick and heavy felt covering which comes right
up to the ears, and enables the animal to lie out in the
open during the coldest weather, if its owner is travelling,
and be none the worse for lack of shelter. The slowly-
moving camel is invaluable as a weight-carrier in a
country devoid of roads, the handsome humped
Khorasan variety being seen in the north ; and the
ordinary kind being used in the south and torrid
Baluchistan. " The life of a camel is but forty days "
is a Persian saying, and it is considered a risky pro-
ceeding to invest much capital in these animals, as they
cannot be loaded when quite young and only last about
six years in full work. They cost from ten to twelve
pounds, and have such brittle bones that they are apt to
break their long legs on the least provocation, a spell
of muddy weather being fatal to many. When this
happens they are killed and sold as food to the poorest
classes ; but the corpse will only fetch about a
pound.

In the spring, if they are what Persians call mast,
or mad, they will roar horribly, foam at the mouth, out
of which comes a red bladder, and fight with one another.
According to the shuturchis (camel-men) an animal in
this state will wreak vengeance on a driver who has
maltreated it. As the kick of a camel can kill a man.

246 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and as the creature has a habit of pressing the life out
of any prostrate adversary with its hard chest-pad, it is
most formidable when in a rage, though very docile at
other times, a tap on its tender neck guiding it easily.

Camels can forage for themselves where a horse or
mule would die of starvation. They devour the prickly
camel-thorn on the barren plains with apparent relish,
and are able to go for some time without water, Dr. Stein
mentioning that his camels on one occasion did not
touch water for a fortnight. When they are doing long
marches they are driven into camp at night and made
to kneel down in a circle, their drivers putting great balls
of barley dough into their mouths ; or they will solemnly
chew away at a big mound of chaff placed on a sheet of
sacking in their midst. Awkward as they appear to be,
Persians comparing a clumsy man to a camel on a ladder,
they climb hills with ease when freed from their loads ;
but the way in which they are fastened to one another
when on the march is a cruel one, a string attached to
the tail of the leading camel being passed through the
nostril of the second, and so on. Perhaps this is why
these evil-smelling beasts grumble so prodigiously when
loaded up !

The mahri, or riding-camels, can travel at a good
pace, and throughout Baluchistan the camelry is a
picturesque sight, a couple of Baluchis armed with
mediaeval-looking shields and spears bestriding each
animal. " This camel lies at your door " is the Persian
equivalent to "Your sin has found you out."

The fine, sure-footed, much-enduring mule is the
animal par excellence of the Persian uplands, as it can
do its twenty-five miles a day with a load of two to
three hundred pounds, which it carries up and down

FAUNA AND FLORA 247

rocky passes that often require careful walking on the
part of a European even if unencumbered.

The little Persian donkey is usually a beast of burden,
spending its life in carrying bricks, manure, or brush-
wood. Yet, curiously enough, it is a favourite steed for
well-to-do merchants, priests, and suchlike, who look
ridiculous to European eyes as they bestride a diminu-
tive animal that is almost hidden by their voluminous
draperies. The magnificent white asses from Bahrein
fetch very high prices, and have excellent paces.
According to Mohammedan law asses are unclean, and
no one may partake of their flesh or milk. Persians
slit the nostrils of these creatures, affirming that it
enables them to breathe more freely ; and when, at last,
the donkey drops under its load and dies in harness, its
body is dragged outside the city to serve as food for the
pariah dogs, its end having suggested the proverb, " He
is like a dying ass with the dogs longing for him to
draw his last breath," which describes the attitude of
greedy heirs awaiting the decease of a rich relative.

Throughout Persia the cows are small, those of Gilan
and Baluchistan being a humped breed, and beef, being
considered a low-class food, is never seen on a well-to-do
Persian's cloth — indeed, it is usually an inferior meat
from lack of proper feeding.

The dog can hardly be looked upon as a domestic
anim.al, though Persians are often fond of their tulas,
or pet-dogs, and sportsmen are proud of their grey-
hounds and mongrel pointers. The shepherds employ
savage, shaggy creatures nearly as big as mastiffs to
guard their flocks, and clip their ears, with the idea that
this mutilation will prevent them from straying. But
these apart, the mangy, half-starved pariah that roams

248 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the streets of every Persian town, and makes night re-
sound with its barking, is merely a scavenger, and is
regarded with justice as being unclean. Saadi says that,
though the noblest of created beings is man and the
meanest a dog, yet a grateful dog is better than an
ungrateful man; moreover, it is written in a holy book
that a dog has seven qualities, of which if a man had
one he would go to heaven.

Though there is often a lack of water during the summer,
yet rabies is hardly known in Iran ; but if a dog happens
to go mad the Persians believe that it has either been
bitten by a snake or has eaten hot bread ! They also
affirm that if it bites any one, and the injured person
can place one of the dog's singed hairs on his wound,
he will be cured.

The long-haired cat called " Persian" in Europe is rarely
seen in the country, though there are countless short-haired
black, tabby, and carrot cats, usually with a half-starved
appearance. A black cat is always treated with a certain
respect, as it may possibly be the home of a jinn or a
demon, and a Persian gentleman amused the writer by
advising her in all seriousness never to meddle with
such a creature.

The bird-life of Persia is, as a rule, not abundant, owing
to the lack of food and water, but the sportsman or
naturalist on landing at Enzeli on the Caspian and being
rowed across the Murdab (Dead Water), on his way to
the capital, will see a veritable paradise of water-fowl.

Pelicans in hundreds are busily fishing ; black, snake-
necked cormorants are diving after their prey; graceful
cranes watch the water with keen eyes ; geese and swans
are swimming about; gulls are swooping through the air;

FAUNA AND FLORA

249

and the islets and masses of reeds appear to be swarming
with duck, teal, coot, snipe, and every variety of water-bird.

The only other part of Persia where bird-life can be
found in profusion is the Hamun, or great Lagoon, in
Sistan, and Major Sykes^ has given an accounc of the
tribe of saiads^ or fowlers, who live on the banks of
the lagoon and make their living by capturing the
water-fowl in nets, into which they drive them down
lanes cut in the reed-beds. These men pay the greater
part of their taxes in the form of feathers, of which they
collect some 4,000 lbs. annually, and they propel them-
selves about in their clumsy reed rafts itutins) with
marvellous skill.

In the rainy zone round the Caspian there is plenty
of game in the forests, pheasant and woodcock being
particularly abundant ; but on the Plateau of Persia the
bird-life is for the most part scanty, and the traveller
must be on the look-out if he wishes to see eagles,
hawks, ravens, and chattering choughs, though vultures
and grey and black crows are fairly common. In the
spring the storks nest on the gateways and ruined
■minars of some of the towns, the Persians calling them
hajis, because they say that they have spent the
winter at Mecca, and are, therefore, entitled to the
honourable sobriquet of " pilgrims " ; and a visitor to
the country may, if lucky, see —

"the files
In marching order spread, of long-necked cranes,
Stream over Casbin and the Southern slopes
Of Elburz, from the Aralian estuaries,
Or some frore Caspian reed-bed, Southward bound
For the warm Persian sea-board." =

" Ten Thousand Miles in Persia."

" Sohrab and Rustum," Matthew Arnold.

250 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and, what he will forget still less, the wild, haunting
cries of these birds as they wing their way at night far
above his head, the piercing note of the thousands
migrating having an indescribably eerie effect as it
falls through the darkness.

The vultures, which are seldom seen on an ordinary
day's march, apparently arrive from nowhere whenever
an animal dies on the road ; and the writer remem-
bers noticing a poor little donkey that had fallen over
the precipice, its pack-saddle being left on its back
in eloquent tribute to the life of unceasing toil in
which the animal had finally laid down its life. The
great blue vault of heaven seemed absolutely empty,
when suddenly and noiselessly a large vulture swooped
down on to the corpse, to be followed by another and
yet others, all steering unerringly to the spot, guided
by their marvellous power of vision.

If the traveller is fond of shooting there are bustard
in the north, quail in the spring, the little tihu, partridge
and sand-grouse everywhere, the splendid francolin
being mostly found in the south and in the Caspian
provinces. The few rivers, streams, and swamps harbour
duck, teal, snipe, wild geese, herons and bittern, and
in the spring the gardens are haunted by a profusion
of birds. Blackbirds, thrushes, the rose-plumaged
pastor, the terror of the gardener from its voracity
as it appears in flocks, the iridescent bee-eater with
its high, sweet note, the cheery cuckoo, and the blue
jay that Persians say can never be killed. The writer
heartily wishes that this superstition were true, as the
sight of these lovely birds in company with some golden
orioles flitting about the dark foliage of cypresses, once
made a picture that will not be soon forgotten.

FAUNA AND FLORA 251

Swallows skim over the ground, and if possible are
lured into the houses, for they bring luck, the Persians
putting up swings for them in the hopes of persuading
them to nest there ; owls, on the contrary, bring disaster,
Saadi writing of this bird, " Wherever thou sittest thou
destroyest." Certainly any one hearing the unearthly
yells of the great screech-owl cannot be surprised at
the belief Magpies abound in the spring and Persians
do not appear to have any superstition connected
with these birds. They are fond of catching a young
one to keep as a pet, giving it a pellet of opium in the
belief that after partaking of the juice of the poppy
it will never forsake its new home, and laughing im-
moderately as the unlucky bird staggers about sick and
bewildered.

The crested hoopoe recalls the legend of how a flock
of these birds once found King Solomon asleep in the
sun, and immediately hovered over him, spreading out
their wings to protect him from the burning rays.
When the monarch awoke he was much pleased, and
inquired how he could reward the birds for their
devotion, and at their request gave them golden crowns.
The story runs, that a small boy throwing stones one
day, brought down a hoopoe by accident and carried
his pretty victim home. It was then found out that the
crest on its head was formed of pure gold, and there-
upon the poor birds were so mercilessly hunted for this
mark of the king's favour that before long they returned
in a body to Solomon to beg that their little feather
adornments might be restored to them, which was
accordingly done, and ever since then they are called by
the potentate's name.

Flocks of pigeons are to be found everywhere, and in

252 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Meshed hundreds of these birds live round the Shrine
and Mosque, being accounted sacred, though if they
rashly leave the shelter of the city they are shot down
with impunity. The soft note of the dove is not often
heard, and the bird is always depicted with a bleeding
heart, which Persians account for by the following tale.
A dove, they say, stole three grains of wheat from a
destitute orphan child, and when it realised what it had
done, it was so overcome with grief that its heart bled.
It is also believed that three drops of blood issue from
the bird's beak whenever it coos, and it is called the
lover of the gloomy cypress, the tree of the graveyard,
the more cheerful nightingale being supposed to be
enamoured of the rose.

These brown bulbuls sing charmingly when kept in
cages, and are fed on a special diet of maggots, peas,
sugar, and various greenstuffs, being covered up from
noon to three o'clock in order that they may enjoy their
siesta with the rest of the Persian world. Inside each
cage a tiny green bag is hung, supposed to contain a
charm to avert the dreaded " evil eye " ; and during
the summer months a rose is stuck through the
wires in order to inspire the little songster to trill its
best.

Pretty crested larks hop about the barren Persian
plains, and their cheery twittering breaks the great
silence that always strikes any traveller in the country>
and in the spring their rapturous songs are a joy to
hear. The sagacious-looking crows, which are always
found in and round the towns and villages, have passed
into the folk-lore of the country. For example, it is
lucky to hear a crow caw from the housetop if any one
is on a journey, and if a girl seeing the new moon for

FAUNA AND FLORA 253

the first time, manages to catch the eye of a crow (no
easy task, I should imagine) fate will be propitious to
her during the coming month.

Geese, fowls, ducks, and turkeys are all domesticated,
the latter going by the name of the " elephant bird," and
doing particularly well in the dry climate. According
to Sir John Malcolm ^ the first turkeys in Persia were
brought from a vessel wrecked on the Persian Gulf and
were looked upon with a certain awe by the inhabitants.
Peacocks, introduced from India, are only permitted to
be kept by royalty, and this prerogative has been ex-
tended to the British Minister at Tehran, these birds
adorning the beautiful Legation garden.

Such a commonplace " fowl " as the domestic cock
is capable of bringing disaster upon a house if it refuses
to restrict its crowing to the lucky hours of noon,
midnight, and nine o'clock in the morning, Persians
often killing the bird if it is inconsiderate in that way.
The saying " He is a cock that crows at the wrong
time," is used to describe a man devoid of tact.

No dinner-party at the capital would be complete
without a salmon smothered in sauce, a lemon in its
mouth and a bouquet on its tail, the fish coming from
the Caspian, where the splendid sturgeon and salmon
fisheries are leased to a Russian Company. In the
Persian Gulf with its sharks, porpoises, and beautiful
blue " guard fish " there is an abundance of fish, which
is salted for export. The few rivers of Persia seem to
afford little sport for the disciple of Isaak Walton,
though the Lar river, not far from Mount Demavend,
used to be full of trout.

' " Persian Sketches."

254 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The reptile life is chiefly represented by lizards great
and small and of many varieties, that copy their sur-
roundings so closely that in one part of Persia where
the ground was strewn with black and red debris from
the volcanic hills around, it was almost impossible to
distinguish the little creatures when they were motion-
less. There are ungainly monster lizards to be found
in the south, living in dens like rabbit burrows, dug
in the sandy soil of the desert, and the Persians believe
them to be poisonous ; but as they have the same
opinion about the smallest of the species their testimony
is unreliable.

Snakes are comparatively rare, but are much dreaded
by the inhabitants, who fail to distinguish between the
noxious and the harmless varieties. They are some-
times to be found in gardens, attracted by the water ;
a formidable horned viper inhabits the arid plains of
Baluchistan ; Major St. John killed a cobra at Bushire ;
and the grassy uplands to the north of Meshed appear
to be infested with a harmless snake, as the nomads
assure the traveller that they do not attack good
Mohammedans ! Persians have a superstition that these
reptiles are in the habit of guarding hidden treasure.

In parts of north-east Persia, yellow-shelled tortoises
appear in great numbers during the spring, the low
hills being pitted with their holes. They move about
with surprising alacrity in search of food, living chiefly
on a kind of wild pea which grows among the scanty
herbage. Frogs abound in every tank and make night
melodious with their croaking ; but the writer was struck
by the apparent absence of the common earth worm,
which, according to Darwin, plays such an important
part in the fertilisation of the soil.

FAUNA AND FLORA 255

The insect life is luckily not very plentiful in the
uplands of Persia owing to the lack of water, though
Sistan has an unenviable reputation for pests of this
kind owing to its great marshy lagoon ; and scorpions,
which appear to be more or less independent of water,
are found everywhere. Strict attention to sweeping
out every room daily is imperative, as otherwise these
insects, and the disagreeable tarantula spiders, would
secrete themselves in corners or in any hole of the
mud walls. There are both black and yellow scorpions
from one to four inches long, and their sting is greatly
dreaded, as the pain inflicted is said to be agonising.

The tarantulas, fawn-coloured or black, with hairy
legs and mouths like a miniature beak, have the power
of springing. A tarantula-hunt is often attended with
difficulties, the insect vanishing in the most uncanny
way, reappearing in another part of the room, and
filling its pursuer with a horrible apprehension that
it may leap upon him. Persians, who dread them,
affirm that they spring in this way when about to bite,
though the writer never came across any one who had
suffered ; the only case coming under her notice being
that of a cat which sank into a kind of coma for a
couple of days, and lay basking in the sun without
eating, but finally recovered. These tarantulas attain
a large size in the south, one captured at Kerman,
three inches in length, trying to attack its captor,
and hissing like a snake when secured in an insect
net.

Centipedes are of a great size in some districts, and
it is advisable not to touch them if crawling over any
exposed part of the body, as if disturbed they will
cling to the flesh with the suckers with which their

256 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

many feet are provided and inflict a long, festering
wound. Yet perhaps sand-flies are the greatest insect
pest of Persia, particularly in the south, ordinary
mosquito netting being of no avail in keeping out these
minute intruders, which have a sting as sharp as the
prick of a needle, and cause an intense irritation. They
cannot stand a draught of air, being too light to make
headway against it ; but in summer the nights are
usually very still and give them full opportunity. The
ordinary house-fly appears in legions as soon as it
gets warm ; but Indian chicks and muslin blinds do
much to abate this hot-weather curse. This intrusive
insect, however, is difficult to circumvent when the
traveller is camping during the summer, because if he
makes his journeys at night on account of the heat,
he must perforce try to sleep during the day. This
is hard to do in a stifling tent with the incessant buzz
of myriads of these insects doing their best to penetrate
through the cage of netting with which he has protected
his head and shoulders.

He must also beware of ticks when pitching his tent
or sleeping in a caravanserai. Both sheep and camels
leave these unpleasant insects on the ground where they
have lain, and Dr. Wills ^ writes that the large camel
tick inflicts a nasty wound that takes a long time to
heal ; and he says that these insects when gorged with
the blood of their victims, become as large as small
cockchafers. These latter insects are not abundant,
but appear in the spring ; and if a flight of them
descend upon the traveller's tents, he will have a dis-
agreeable experience, as the creatures will crawl into his
bedding and get into every conceivable nook and cranny.
' " Land of the Lion and the Sun."

FAUNA AND FLORA 257

Locusts are often a great calamity to the peasants,
coming in swarms, devouring the crops and bringing
starvation on the afflicted districts. In summer the
ground is alive with grasshoppers ; wasps and hornets
invade the houses to build their nests on the ceilings ;
big black beetles live in the mud walls and floors, as
do often the mole-crickets ; bees of many kinds hum
in the gardens ; and out on the plains the little ant-
lions lie in wait for their prey at the bottom of their
holes.

This is by no means an exhaustive account of the
animal and insect life of Persia, and has no pretensions
to be of any scientific value, but is merely what the
observant traveller may come across in his journeyings.

The Flora

The flora of Persia is a decided disappointment to
those who have taken their ideas of the country from
the gardens of roses celebrated by Tom Moore in his
" Lalla Rookh." Once on the great Persian Plateau,
the traveller may ride for days across the wide plains
without meeting a flower, unless in the early spring,
when he will see a sprinkling of rosa Persica, mauve
crocuses, garlic, the camel-thorn a mass of rosy bloom,
tiny scarlet tulips, irises, hyacinths, and narcissus.
Convolvulus, chicory, peas, and cornflowers are in the
fields ; but usually only veitch and camel-thorn clothe
the barren expanse, unless it be among the hills. Here
the streams have always a border of grass along their
banks, and sweet-brier, barberry, and tamarisk grow-
in profusion, tiny cyclamen, candytuft, asphodel,
colchicum and forget-me-not being abundant, also the

^58 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

tall assafoetida, the white hollyhock, the stately erevturi,
the great red poppy, and the blanket-leaved mullein.
Spring flowers are also in plenty on the grassy uplands
of Mazanderan and in the districts round the Caspian,
but this display is only seen in a few places.

The gardens contain nothing rare in the way of
flowers ; and this is not surprising, as it is said that many
of the English garden-flowers come from Persia. In
the spring violets come first, and line the jubs (water-
courses) ; then masses of purple and white irises,
tiger-lilies, tulips, pansies, and later balsams, zinnias,
petunias, marigolds, wallflowers, and asters fill the sunk
beds, which are irrigated at frequent intervals. The
tumbled-looking pink rose is everywhere, and from its
blossoms rose-water is distilled ; moss-roses there are in
plenty, and handsome orange, yellow, or white single
roses, one species having different colours on the upper
and under sides of its petals.

Most of the ordinary English vegetables are grown
in Persia, such as potatoes (introduced by Sir John
Malcolm in the time of Fath Ali Shah), spinach,
pumpkins, vegetable marrows, onions, turnips, and
carrots. Peas, beans, celery, seakale, and tomatoes
when sown do remarkably well and yield splendid
crops. The aubergine and the slimy lady's-finger are
cultivated, as are also short, fat cucumbers, delicious in
flavour and in such profusion that some years ago a
hundred could be bought for a penny, thus making
them a staple food for the poor. In the spring wild
rhubarb, asparagus, chardon, and a large mushroom
are found in the hills, all excellent of their kind. The
fruit-season is marshalled in by the sickly white
mulberry, followed by cherry, plum, peach, nectarine

FAUNA AND FLORA 259

apricot, apple, and pear. The walnuts, almond, and
pistachio grow well, and grapes are in profusion and
of several kinds. Oranges from the large portiigal
to the fragrant mandarin are produced in favoured
spots, and the small green-skinned lime is in great
request for sherbets. Perhaps the melon is the fruit
par excellence of Persia. It is of many kinds, from
the hindivana, the water-melon, usually scarlet-fleshed
with black seeds, to the huge white melons some-
times 70 lb. in weight, which are grown near Isfahan,
and which they say will burst if a horse gallops past
when they are ripe. The splendid pomegranate makes
a delicious fruit syrup ; and Persians put their well-
flavoured quinces into niches round the walls of their
rooms, in order to enjoy the odour. There are no
gooseberries, currants, raspberries, or strawberries in the
country ; though the berries of the wild barberry might
do duty for the currant ; and the strawberries in the
English gardens at Tehran and Meshed grow in such
profusion that in the latter town 30 lb. of the fruit were
gathered daily from the beds of one garden at the height
of the season.

CHAPTER XIV
MARCO POLO IN PERSIA

THROUGH the centuries that have elapsed since
the Arab conquest of Persia, many travellers have
visited Iran. Catholic friars bent on converting Mo-
hammedans ; traders pursuing commerce in the Caspian
or the Persian Gulf ; ambassadors from different nations
paying court to Shah Abbas (the Grand Sophy, as they
called him from a mispronunciation of his dynastic
title) ; gallant gentlemen — adventurers such as the
Sherley brothers ; or master-craftsmen like the French
jewellers Tavernier and Chardin, with others whom
it would take too long to enumerate.

Chief of these, and among the earliest travellers, stands
out the great name of the trader Marco Polo ; and
to Venice belongs the honour of being the birthplace
of the greatest Asiatic traveller that the world has ever
known.

Owing mainly to her geographical position, the
wealth of the East poured through the City of the
Waters, and at the height of her power the Republic
was the great commercial centre of Europe, and had
almost the whole carrying trade of the West. Ducats
were the current coin of Asia for centuries, even down

to the time of the English traveller Pottinger, who

260

MARCO POLO IN PERSIA 261

writes that he laid in a stock of " Venetians " for his
travels in Persia and Baluchistan early in the nineteenth
century.

When Marco Polo started off with his father and uncle
on years of adventure, they first crossed Persia and
then made their way from Kashgar via the great Gobi
Desert to China, the "Far Cathay" of the Middle
Ages, where they lived for seventeen years at the
Court of great Kublai Khan. Their journey was
certainly beset with many perils ; but in one way it
was easier to travel in Asia in the thirteenth century
than it is at the present day. The whole of the con-
tinent was in the powerful grip of the Mongols, and
though the empire founded by Chinghiz Khan was
split up into different kingdoms, yet there was no
danger of passing from friendly to hostile territory
as was the case in the nineteenth century, when Conolly
and Stoddart were murdered at Bokhara. The great
trade routes were kept open to European enterprise
by the enlightened Mongol rulers, and Venice, a city
that owed all its wealth to commerce, took advantage
of this fact. In this twentieth century there is no
ruler in Asia who could give a golden tablet to his
ambassador, by means of which that envoy would
be provided with escorts, baggage-animals, and food
throughout the length and breadth of the vast con-
tinent ; but this is just what Kublai Khan did on two
occasions to the Polos.

Marco Polo speaks in no stinted terms of the great
use of these tablets, that acted as a kind of " open
sesame" wherever he went, and provided transport
and commissariat in abundance, these being the main
difficulties of Persian travel at the present day.

262 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

A glance at the map shows that Persia lies on the
"highway of the nations," and in the days of Marco
Polo it was rich and prosperous, owing to the wealth
of China and India pouring into its emporium of
Hormuz on the Persian Gulf From here it was
laboriously conveyed on the backs of camels and mules
over passes eight thousand feet high to the Iranian
Plateau, and then travelled by way of Kerman and
Yezd up to Balkh or to Tabriz, from which great
centres it was distributed.

The south-eastern part of Persia must have been
much as it is now, that is, to use Major Sykes' ' phrase,
" partly desert pure and simple and partly desert
tempered by oases." The deforestation, however, that
has gone on steadily through the centuries has done
much to decrease the rainfall, always scanty, and thus
has fatally injured a country which lacks only water to
make its unpromising-looking soil produce abundantly.

The descendants of Hulagu Khan were rulers of
Persia when the Venetians visited the country, and
these princes acknowledged Kublai Khan as their over-
lord, stamping their coinage with his name and
transacting their business with the Chinese seals he
gave them.

Owing to Marco Polo's habit of not telling us which
were the places he actually saw, and which were those
that he described from hearsay, there has been a con-
siderable difference of opinion as to the route he took
when he started from Acre on his years of travel. Sir
Henry Yule, his talented translator and editor, con-
siders that the Venetian travelled via Mosul and
Baghdad down the Shal-el-Arab, past Busreh, to
' " Ten Thousand Miles in Persia."

MARCO POLO IN PERSIA 263

Hormuz on the Persian Gulf ; but Major Sykes, who
has had the advantage of studying several of these
questions on the spot, thinks from internal evidence that
the Polos entered Persia near Tabriz, travelling by way
of Kashan, Yezd, and Kerman down to Hormuz. At
this point, perhaps fearing to brave the many cross-
winds and contrary currents of the Gulf in the un-
seaworthy craft tied together with twine, that Marco
Polo stigmatises as " wretched affairs," they turned north
again, and crossing the Great Desert, reached Balkh.

However this may be, we know from the Venetian's
own words that he did visit Tabriz, and the next point
of interest was his halt at Saba, or Sava, some eighty
miles south-west of the modern Tehran. Here the
" Three Wise Men " of Gospel narrative were supposed
to have lived, tradition ignoring the fact that frankin-
cense and myrrh do not grow in Persia, and Marco
Polo, with characteristic honesty, complains that he
could get no accurate information about the Magi.
He speaks, however, of their tombs, evidently being
unaware that the reputed bodies of the " Three Kings "
had, after numerous vicissitudes, been enshrined in
Cologne Cathedral in 1164.

Our traveller mentioned Yezd, or Yasdi, as " a good
and noble city," and at the present day it still retains
much of its commercial importance, its merchants
being accounted among the most enterprising in Persia.
The silk he speaks of is still one of its chief manu-
factures, as is also the yasdi, if it be the handsome
shawl-patterned material known as hasan kuli khan
that is a specialite of the city. The position of the
town on the edge of the desert with rolling sand-dunes
close to its high walls, is not inviting ; but it owed

264 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

its former prosperity to being on the great caravan
route.

Kerman, the next halt made by the Venetians, was
prosperous from the same cause ; and both cities, being
somewhat inaccessible, had escaped the brunt of the
terrible Mongol invasion. Marco Polo would hardly
recognise the squalid mud-domed Kerman of to-day,
which covers only about a quarter of its former area,
and is surrounded by crumbling ruins, as it stands near
two steep limestone spurs on which are the scanty
remains of the fortresses attributed to Ardeshir. The
most prominent object in the city is the half-destroyed
greenish-blue dome of a mosque in which is an inscrip-
tion dating its foundation from 1242, and therefore it
must have been newly erected at the time of the Polos'
visit in 1271.

The Venetian speaks of the embroideries of Kerman
" with figures of beasts and birds, trees and flowers, and
a variety of other patterns," and mentions the " hang-
ings " made there. At the present day, the city, though
producing beautiful shawls and embroideries, is chiefly
noted for its carpets that are among the finest in the
world. Curiously enough, for a Mohammedan country^
at the time of Marco Polo's first visit the province was
ruled by an energetic princess, and years later, on his
return from China, he found her daughter on the throne,
a high-handed lady who murdered her brother, and in
her turn was strangled by his widow and her own
sister.

When Marco Polo left Kerman on his way to the
Gulf he says : " When you leave the city you ride on for
seven days, always finding towns, villages and hand-
some dwelling-houses, so that it is very pleasant

MARCO POLO IN PERSIA 265

travelling," This cannot be said to be the case now,
for, to give one example, there is only a mud tea-house
on the twenty-three miles between Kerman and Mahun,
above which village the Venetian probably entered the
hills by the old caravan route to Hormuz. But in the
environs of Kerman there are remains of forts and
villages in all directions, showing the former prosperity
of a district, that now is depopulated ; and Marco
Polo's important city of Camadi has been identified
with the extensive ruins of the modern Shahr-i-Jiruft
from which many coins, beads, and pottery have been
exhumed.

Even at the present day Persian roads are by no
means secure for unarmed travellers, and the Venetians
nearly lost their lives on their way south to the coast,
being attacked by bandits in a dense fog. This they
thought was caused by enchantment, not knowing that
they are fairly common at certain seasons in the pro-
vince of Kerman.

The old Persian saying runs thus : " Were the world
a ring, Hormuz would be the jewel in it," and this prob-
ably is an allusion to the immense wealth formerly
enjoyed by this port on the Persian Gulf, all the gold,
spices, silks, ivory, jewels, and drugs of India and China
being brought here to start on their long journeys north
and west. It cannot be out of compliment to the
climate, for Marco Polo speaks of that as " sickly " — a
very appropriate term to those who know its capacity
for fever ; nor can it be in reference to the natural
charms of a spot baked by a torrid sun, which has no
vegetation and a most scanty water supply. In the days
of the Venetian the trade had been removed from the
island of Hormuz to the mainland, and the big, bustling

266 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

emporium was a very different-looking place to squalid
Bandar Abbas, the modern port nearest to its former site.

As we have said before, Marco Polo did not take ship
at Hormuz, but struck northwards again to Kerman,
from where he crossed the great desert, the Lut that
cuts Persia in half, and is a terrible obstacle to com-
merce. His experiences, owing to the lack and badness
of the water, were decidedly unpleasant, as indeed have
been those of other travellers in this inhospitable
region. M. Khanikoff, the Russian traveller, speaks of
this district as "a desert unequalled in aridity on the
whole of the Asiatic continent, for the Gobi and Kizil
Kum are fertile prairies compared to the Lut."

When he emerged from this desert, our traveller
speaks of the arbre sol, or arbre sec, of Khorasan,
probably a gigantic plane-tree, some of these at the
present day being a mass of rags and votive offerings, and
regarded with a superstitious awe from their size and
rarity. There is a curious old Persian picture represent-
ing Alexander the Great demanding to learn his fate
from the arbre sol. The tree, which is hung all over with
the heads of different animals, presumably to signify its
power of speech, is reported to have replied, to the
great General's questionings, " Thou shalt conquer the
world, but thou shalt never see Macedonia again."
Beyond the tree two Persian saints are depicted seated
by a pool from which they are drawing and eating the
fish of everlasting life, and in Saadi's Gulistan we have
a reference to this legend in the words, " Hast thou
heard that Alexander went into darkness, and after all
his efforts, could not taste the water of immortality } "

The great conqueror is depicted as holding his fore-
finger to his lips, an Oriental gesture of astonishment,

MARCO POLO IN PERSIA 267

Saadi often using the expression to " bite the finger of
amazement."

We cannot be sure from his narrative whether Marco
Polo reached Balkh by way of Meshed and Nishapur or
via Herat ; but his travels show us that Persia in the
thirteenth century was far more prosperous and popu-
lous than Persia in the twentieth, while her communi-
cations to-day are almost in the same primitive state as
they were in the time of the great Venetian.

After these experiences the three Polos made their
way to the Court of Kublai, the great Khan of Tartary,
the ablest of the successors of Chinghiz and the con-
queror of China.

Here they stayed many years, and so attached became
the monarch to the Polos, that he turned a deaf ear to
all their hints that he should allow them to return home
with their wealth. In fact there seemed every prospect
that they would remain in China till their death, when
envoys from Tabriz in north Persia arrived with the
news that Kublai's grand-nephew, the Khan of Persia,
was a disconsolate widower, and wished to replace his
late wife by one of her relatives who dwelt near Pekin.
The young Princess Kokachin was selected for the
honour; but the ambassadors feared to take her by
the long overland route to Persia with its hardships
and perils, and begged the monarch to let them travel
by sea. As they had no knowledge of sea-craft (no
Persian has any at the present day) they urged that the
Venetians, in whose powers they appeared to place
boundless confidence, might accompany the party. Old
Kublai Khan agreed to this with great reluctance, but
gave the travellers a fleet of thirteen ships, and they set
off on a voyage that lasted for two years. The would-be

268 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

bridegroom was dead when they reached their destina-
tion ; but the lady was promptly married to his nephew,
and wept when she said goodbye to her kind escort.

When the Polos reached Venice after an absence
of nearly a quarter of a century, tradition has it that
their relatives did not recognise them in their travel-
ling garb of great sheepskin pushteens, with the wool
worn inside as at the present day, and their huge,
shaggy Tartar caps. To stimulate the memory of their
kinsfolk they invited them all to a feast, after which,
ripping up the seams of their travel-worn garments,
a mass of precious stones poured out, to the amazement
of the onlookers. At this sight, as the chronicler puts
it with unconscious humour, "they recognised that,
in spite of all former doubts, these were in truth those
honoured and worthy gentlemen of the Ca Polo that
they claimed to be . . . and straightway the whole city,
gentle and simple, flocked to the house to embrace
them and to make much of them with every conceivable
demonstration of honour and respect."

Across the ages three travellers and geographers
stand out from the rest — the Greek Herodotus, the
Chinese Chang Ki'en, and lastly Marco Polo, the
subject of this chapter.

The two former lived in the fifth and second centuries
before Christ, and are therefore separated by a gulf
of time from the Venetian, but all three visited Persia
and great parts of Central Asia. To Marco Polo must
be awarded the palm for the extent of his travels. To
quote Sir Henry Yule,i "He was the first to trace
a route across the whole longitude of Asia, naming
and describing kingdom after kingdom which he had
' " Marco Polo.''

MARCO POLO IN PERSIA 269

seen with his own eyes : Persia, Badakshan, the Mon-
golian Steppes, China, Tibet, Burma, Siam, Cochin
China, Japan, the Indian Archipelago, Java, Sumatra,
the Andaman Islands, Ceylon, and India."

Before closing this chapter the writer must acknow-
ledge her indebtedness not only to Sir Henry Yule's
magnmn opus, but also to Major Sykes ^ for much of
what she has written.

When she was the latter's companion at Kerman
he was keenly interested in finding out the great
Venetian's routes through the province of that name,
and a summer tour in the hilly country round the city
was made with the object of following in the footsteps
of Marco Polo. Both were thrilled at the idea that
perhaps they were the first Europeans since the time
of the Venetians to pass along the old caravan route
now disused ; and one afternoon, riding across a
grassy plateau in the Sardu, or Cold Country district,
the ruins of a long-deserted caravanserai close to a
steep pass gave them the certainty that they were
standing on the edge of the "great descent" that Marco
Polo had to negotiate in order to reach the city of
Camadi, thus clearing up various disputed points as
to his route to the Persian Gulf.

Throughout the writer's stay in Persia the great
Venetian was in a way interwoven with her life. Almost
wherever she travelled, be it by Kum, Kashan, or Yezd
to Kerman ; on the troublous, torrid waters of the
Persian Gulf; or yet again in Makran with its fish-
and-date-eating inhabitants, and its intense heat only
tempered by occasional oases of palms, Marco Polo had
preceded her.

^ " Journeys of Alexander the Great and Marco Polo " (Society
of Arts, June 4, 1897).

CHAPTER XV
A GLANCE AT THE ANTIQUITIES OF PERSIA

THE traveller who has entered Persia by way of
Bushire, and has surmounted the formidable
kotals that lie between the sea and Shiraz, will from
that city go to visit the Achsemenian and Sasanian
remains in the valley of the Polvar, some forty miles to
the north.

If he is wise he will take Lord Curzon's " Persia "
as his guide, for its masterly description of the history
and purpose of the ruins he is about to see will both
double his pleasure and save him from a sense of
perplexity and confusion.

The most famous of these remains is Persepolis,
situated on the wide plain of Mervdasht, and called
Takht-i-Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid) by the Persians,
who consider the immense platform is too great a work
to have been performed by mere mortals, and therefore
ascribe it to one of their legendary monarchs whose
behests were carried out by jinns and demons.

These terraces, once covered with palaces, halls of
audience and fire-temples, are built out from the side
of the mountain and faced with huge stones, some of
which, according to Lord Curzon, are fifty feet long

and six to ten in width. The celebrated staircase is

270

THE ANTIQUITIES OF PERSIA 271

still in situ, the steps of which are so shallow that
the traveller can ride up them with ease and arrive
at the Porch of Xerxes with its enormous sculptured
bulls. The stone work still left of these magnificent
buildings, which Shah Abbas, among others, used as
a quarry, was hewn from the mountains, the workmen
chiselling the vast limestone blocks for the platform
close to the scene of their labours, and thus saving
the toil of transport.

The great audience hall of Xerxes, once supported
on seventy-two fluted colums, only thirteen of which
are still standing, is approached by four staircases,
up which at No Ruz thronged the subjects of the King
of Kings to pay tribute to their sovereign, or merely
to gaze half bewildered at his splendour. Blazing with
jewels, he would sit on a throne in the vast hall, a
parasol, emblem of royalty, held above him, and
attendants armed with fly-whisks beside him. Curtains
would supply the place of walls to this audience-
chamber, and would be raised when thousands were
prostrating themselves to the earth before a sovereign
whom they regarded as half divine.

Not far from this hall, so impressive even in its ruin,
is the palace of great Darius. The stone doorways
and windows are still standing, though the mud-brick
walls, formerly adorned with stucco-work, enamel tiles
or paintings, have now all disappeared, the frosts, rains,
and sunshine of many centuries having converted
them into rubble and washed them away. But the
cuneiform inscription, informing us that this palace was
begun by the son of Hystaspes and completed by Xerxes,
is almost as clear as when first incised on the limestone;
and the finely carved processions of armed warriors.

272 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and the gigantic figure of the king killing a griffin of
superhuman size, show to what a height art in Persia had
attained some twenty-five centuries ago.

Behind the Propylaea of Xerxes the traveller visits
the remains of the Hall of a Hundred Columns, built
by Darius the Great ; and Lord Curzon ^ says that this
vast reception-room, the cedar roof of which was once
upheld by a hundred and sixteen pillars, is only sur-
passed in size by the hall of Karnak in Egypt. It has
the indescribable fascination of being almost beyond
doubt the palace fired by Alexander during a drunken
revel ; for excavations have brought to light a mass of
cedar-wood ash, not a trace of which is to be found
in any other palace. Here, then, in the words of
Dryden,

"Thais led the way
To light him to his prey
And, like another Helen, fired another Troy."

Perhaps what strikes the traveller most during a
visit to Persepolis is the way in which everything is
done to contribute to the glorification or semi-deifica-
tion of the monarchs who built the palaces which they
visited on occasions of ceremony. The sovereign is
sculptured as seated in state on his throne with Ormuzd
hovering above him ; or he is slaying some monster ;
or half the peoples of Asia are represented as bringing
tribute to his feet. This idea of the " Divine Right
of Kings" is still extant in Persia and is carefully
fostered in court circles, though sorely shaken in the
land at large.

The wonderful outburst of art to which we owe these
' " Persia."

t.,.^^.»s^.

r*'*smm-'^.

$^^

THE ANTIQUITIES OF PERSIA 273

impressive ruins was influenced by both Assyria and
Egypt, the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, and the
occupation of the cities of the Nile by Cambyses, bring-
ing the Persians into contact with these great civilisa-
tions, from both of which they borrowed while
preserving their own personality.

The kings in their palaces at Persepolis had of course
vast crowds of retainers, and the royal city of Istakr
rose on the plain to supply the needs of these latter, the
remains of one of its great limestone gateways still
standing, and a lofty fluted column with bull-headed
capital marking the site of what was in old days a fire-
temple.

The splendid rock-tombs of Naksh-i-Rustum, where
Darius Hystaspes and three of his successors were laid
to rest, are hewn out of a sheer wall of rock that rises to
a great height above the plain. The tombs can only be
reached by the aid of ropes, as they are between twenty-
five to forty feet from the ground, and their carvings and
inscriptions are still fresh ; but they have been entirely
rifled of their contents.

The Zoroastrian command to expose all dead
bodies to be consumed by the birds of prey was
not followed by these sovereigns, though enforced
under the Sasanian dynasty during which the priest-
hood had great influence. It may have been that
the Achaemenians wished to copy the example of the
Pharaohs.

Next in interest to Persepolis are the remains of
Pasargadae, formerly the famous capital of Cyrus the
Great, and situated in the valley of the Polvar on
the plain of Murghab. Here is to be seen the
Takht-i-Suleiman, or Throne of Solomon, that monarch

274 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

being frequently confused with the mythical Jamshid,
as both are credited with having possessed superhuman
powers. This great platform, built of blocks of lime-
stone, so well fitted together that no mortar was either
needed or used in its construction, once in all prob-
ability supported the audience-hall of Cyrus the
Achaemenian, and at some distance from it stands a
low pillar on which is a figure crowned and having two
pairs of wings, one raised towards heaven and the other
sweeping the earth. This figure is pointed out by
Persians as the originator of their past greatness ; and
Lord Curzon says that the inscription, " I am Cyrus, the
King, the Achaemenian," was formerly carved above
the bas-relief.

From here the traveller will make his way to what
is the most interesting of all the remains — that is, the
tomb of Cyrus, spoken of by the Persians as the
" Sepulchre of the Mother of Solomon." When perfect
it resembled a small Greek temple with its pedimented
roof and the surrounding colonnade, which latter has
entirely disappeared. Yet, even in its ruin, the visitor
who clambers up the steps of the pedestal on which it
stands is thrilled at the thought that here almost
beyond doubt lay the remains of the founder of the
Achaemenian line. Alexander, who overthrew that
dynasty, came some two centuries after the death of
mighty Cyrus to pay his respects to one whom he
admired with the sympathetic reverence that one great
soldier may feel for another.

This cursory glance at what has descended to us from
the centuries before our era would not be complete
without some mention of Bisitun, twenty-four miles to
the east of Kermanshah. On this fine ridge of rock,

THE ANTIQUITIES OF PERSIA 275

rising 1,500 feet above the plain, are carved the exploits
of Darius the Great, and the famous inscription that
gave to the world the key of cuneiform writing. Lord
Curzon ^ speaks of this inscription, the secret of which
was unravelled by Sir Henry Rawlinson, as " the most
important historical document, albeit in stone, next to
the Damietta Stone, that has been discovered and
deciphered in this century."

The remains of the Sasanian dynasty are principally
in the form of magnificent rock-sculptures, perhaps the
finest being carved on the cliff below the royal
Acheemenian sepulchres to which we have already
referred.

The Persians call these monuments Naksh-i-Rustum
(Pictures of Rustum), because they imagine that they
depict the exploits of their national hero, their know-
ledge of the history of Iran being entirely gleaned
from the legends of the Shahnama. The most in-
teresting commemorates the capture of the Roman
Emperor Valerian by Shapur I. in 260 A.D. Shapur,
above life-size, and adorned with the royal insignia,
is mounted on horseback, and at his feet kneels the
captive Csesar, his hands outstretched as if beseeching
mercy from his proud conqueror — mercy which was
asked in vain. Beside Valerian is another Roman
prisoner to whom Shapur is giving what is supposed to
be the royal circlet, thus signifying his installation of
Cyriades on the throne of the Csesars.

Not far from Kazerun lie the mounds, the fragments

of wall, and the masses of rubbish that once was

Shapur, the celebrated capital of the Sasanian monarch,

and which was destroyed during the Arab invasion.

^ " Persia."

276 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Hardly anything is left of this royal town ; but on the
banks of the stream that runs through a defile are
several rock-sculptures, three of which portray the
proudest event of Shapur's successful reign — that is, the
capture of Valerian. In one of these the Csesar is being
trampled beneath the horse of his conqueror, and
another great panel, full of figures, commemorates
Shapur investing Cyriades with the Imperial purple,
the vanquished Valerian being a spectator of this scene
so full of humiliation to him.

High up on the side of the valley is a huge cave
still containing the much mutilated gigantic statue of
Shapur, which is said to have been worshipped as a god,
and is, moreover, interesting as being the only antique
statue ever found in Persia.

Some four miles from Kermanshah are other remark-
able Sasanian rock-sculptures at Tak-i-Bostan, or Arch
of the Garden, and the finest of these, which show
the influence of Greek art, are to commemorate the
achievements of Khosru Parvis, whose reign is such
a strange mixture of conquest and success during the
first part, to be followed by defeat and misery at the
last.

There are, of course, many other remains of the past,
but this chapter does not aim at giving a description of
all the antiquities of Persia, but merely points out, in a
cursory way, those that are the most celebrated.

CHAPTER XVI
SPORT AND AMUSEMENTS

PERSIANS from their Shahs downwards have
always been passionately fond of the chase, the
murdered Nasr-ed-Din Shah loving to pursue the ibex
and wild sheep in the numerous mountain ranges.

But the typical sport of Persia is a gazelle shoot,
these fleet creatures being found almost everywhere, and
roaming the plains in small herds. The usual method
of securing them is to ride in a big party towards the
aim, the riders spreading out round the quarry and
gradually closing in upon it. When the animals,
which have taken little notice at first of the sportsmen,
perceive that they are hemmed in, they try to break
through the ring, and then ensues an exciting scene in
which the firing is often reckless and leads to casualties
among the riders as well as the game. Persians are
able to handle a gun almost as well on horseback as off;
for looping their reins on to the pommels of the high
saddles in which they are tightly wedged, and turning
right round in their seats, they fire behind, much
as the Parthians of old discharged their celebrated
arrows.

Hawks are occasionally employed in this sport, the
birds dashing at the heads of the gazelle again and
277

278 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

again, with the result that the animals are confused and
their speed is checked, thus enabling the horsemen and
tazi, or greyhounds, to come up with them. So fleet are
they that the expression, " To sell the skin of a gazelle
before you have caught it," is the Persian equivalent of
counting one's chickens before they are hatched, and a
familiar curse is to wish that a man may have to " catch
his bread from the horn of a gazelle," thus condemning
him to starvation.

Hawking is a favourite form of sport, the birds some-
times being trained to kill the great bustard, or obara, of
the plains, which is as large as a turkey ; and they are
also used in partridge shooting. Marco Polo, who twice
visited Kerman, speaks of the hawks found in that
province as the best and swiftest in the world, and the
writer, who has been present at partridge-drives in the
district, has had the opportunity of watching the birds
at work. On these occasions every one is on horseback,
and the " beaters " rush up and down the hills, yelling
at the top of their voices to drive the partridges into
the stony valleys, along which the sportsmen dash,
paying no attention to the stones of all sizes with which
the ground is liberally strewn. Pointers of dubious
breed flush the game which is dropped at very short
distances by the eager guns, and the hawks swoop at
intervals on their bewildered prey. It would be impos-
sible to describe the hurly-burly and the savage
appearance of the party, clad in long flying coats with
striped scarves round their skull-caps, and armed with
guns and hunting-knives, every man shouting until he
is hoarse, and apparently half delirious with excitement.
Another method of shooting partridges, very different to
this noisy one, is for the native huntsmen to creep along

SPORT AND AMUSEMENTS 279

behind a screen made of bright colours that attracts the
inquisitive birds to their doom.

Pheasants and woodcock abound near the Caspian,
and the handsome francolin, or doraj, in the soutli.
Quail shooting is a favourite spring pastime, the
shooters tramping through the springing crops, and
often accompanied by dogs which rouse the birds and
make them fly up.

Flocks of wild geese, wild duck, and teal are found
near the streams and swamps, as are also snipe, but
these latter are too difficult a quarry for the clumsy
Persian gun.

When any animal or bird is killed its throat must be
cut before it breathes its last, with the formula, Bismillah
er rahman er rahim (in the Name of God the all-
Merciful). This is to render it halal, or fit for food,
and the orthodox will not eat it if it is shot dead.

The Persian Plateau, however, cannot be looked upon
in any sense as a paradise for sportsmen, the game
being scarce owing to lack of water and the consequent
sparseness of food. Pigeons are found everywhere, and
are often secured by throwing stones down the kanat
holes that they frequent and shooting as the birds fly
out. Indeed, one of the favourite amusements of a
Persian is to sally forth with his gun, and he usually
brings down something, for he is bound by no etiquette
as to what to shoot, any harmless and inedible " cocky-
oily " bird being stalked and finally secured with much
exultation.

Major St. John ^ mentions that a sport round Shiraz
is to employ sparrow-hawks to catch the ubiquitous
sparrow that haunts the kanat holes in hot weather,
' "Zoology of Eastern Persia." Blandford.

28o PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The birds fly up as a stone is flung down the shaft, and
the hawk usually kills its prey before the sparrow can
take refuge in the next open shaft ; but sometimes the
hawk in its eagerness follows its quarry down the water-
course and can only be rescued with much difficulty.
Fifteen or twenty sparrows are often killed in an hour's
walk.

Pigeon-flying is much in vogue ; but Dr. Wills,i who
gives a capital account of this pastime, says that pigeon
fanciers are looked upon with suspicion, as they have to
go from roof to roof of the houses and therefore have
many opportunities of glancing down into the ande-
roons of their neighbours.

Riding is perhaps the chief amusement in a country
of horses ; though the practice of racing a horse at its
top speed and then pulling it up sharply when in full
gallop is not one that commends itself to an English
rider, and accounts for a weakness often observable in
the hind-quarters of Persian horses. Racing, however,
is not practised except at Tehran, where there are yearly
horse-races, which, if report is to be believed, are not
conducted according to the strict rules of fair play.

Persians have but few games. In olden days polo
was the national pastime, and it is contended that it
took its rise in Iran. It died out, however, some
centuries ago, and has only been revived lately by
the Europeans in the country.

The nomad tribes are accustomed to fire from horse-
back at a lemon thrown into the air, or at an egg placed
on a mound of sand, turning right round in their
saddles and smashing it as they pass it at full gallop.
Another sport, termed doghela basi, is for the rider
' " Land of the Lion and the Sun."

SPORT AND AMUSEMENTS 281

to fling a long stick on the ground with force and catch
it as it rebounds into the air. Accidents frequently
occur during this game, the players having sometimes
been blinded ; and on one occasion, at all events, the
stick killed a horse by piercing its chest.

Wrestling is practised by all ranks, encounters of this
kind exciting much interest, the object to be aimed
at being to force the opponent to his knees; and nothing
arouses more excitement among the spectators than such
an exhibition. Bets are laid on the result, though
the Prophet strictly forbade gambling ; and a battle
royal is occasionally the sequel, the frenzied spectators
breaking the ring and beating the wrestler whom they
are not backing !

Tipcat ; also marbles (played with pebbles) ; a kind of
rounders ; draughts ; backgammon ; card games and
chess comprise a limited repertoire. It is said that
Shah Rokh, youngest son of Timur the Lame, got
his name because his father was playing at chess when
the news of his son's birth was brought to him. At the
moment of the announcement the Tartar conqueror
had checked his opponent's king with his castle, the
move in Persia being called Shah rokh.

As games of chance were prohibited by the Prophet,
cards are looked upon askance by all pious Moslems,
dancing and music being practically confined to pro-
fessionals. It is considered degrading for a gentleman
to practise either art ; and the lutis, who are the chief
performers, are looked down upon with contempt. The
dancers posture, shuffle about ungracefully by pushing
their feet from side to side ; and a great achievement is
to bend backwards, until the head touches the ground,
and to walk in that position without the aid of the hands.

282 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

As to Persian music there is something curiously
haunting about it ; but the hearer must first set aside
all his European ideas of the art ; for to an ear trained
to the octave the wild, tuneless music sounds like the
fiddle-scraping of an orchestra before the overture
commences. A gipsy-band will perhaps perform for
his benefit, and he will notice how dirty are both the
men and their instruments ; but the skill with which
they manage the latter will soon strike him. A dark-
faced man in a turban will play on a kind of zither,
tapping its many strings continuously with a pair
of wooden sticks, while squatting beside him a grey-
beard is fingering a curiously primitive guitar {sitar).
This is made of mulberry wood, the whole of the
hollowed-out body being covered in with parchment,
and the long neck has frets like a Spanish guitar and
carved head pegs to tighten up the three strings which
are struck with a plectrum. Two men will scrape away
with black horse-hair bows on instruments that remind
the looker-on of mandolines, the bowls being made out
of pumpkins strengthened with ribs of wood, ivory, and
bits of metal, and each instrument has a handsomely
incised long metal spike to support it on the ground.
Of course every band will have its drums. There will
be a large one (the tumbak), and a pair of small
ones, the covers of these latter made of different
skins in order to alter the tone. The players wet
the parchment to render it more resonant, and thud
it with marvellously supple fingers, and one of their
number will tap incessantly on what looks like a
huge tambourine (the diara). A pipe and a horn
probably complete the equipment of the band, the
latter emitting fearfully discordant and ear-splitting

SPORT AND AMUSEMENTS 283

brays. The singers give vent at intervals to what
seems a series of shrieks and yells, rocking themselves
to and fro and making the most agonising grimaces,
while the veins of their necks swell with their efforts.
But though a Persian singer, straining his high falsetto
voice to the utmost, as he executes many a shake
and tremulo, may not please European taste, yet
his songs of love or war have an appeal from their
very strangeness, and if heard at a distance conjure
up some of the glamour and mystery of the East.

At ail events, the national music is far superior to the
brass band imported from Europe and now the fashion
in Persia. Every instrument is usually out of tune,
and men and boys of all ages perform, with a result that
may be more easily imagined than described !

CHAPTER XVII
FOUR PERSIAN POETS

AFTER reading, among other books, Professor E. G.
Browne's authoritative work on the literature of
Persia, the writer saw that it would be impossible in
a book of this? kind to convey any real idea of such
a large subject, and decided therefore that it would
be more interesting to the general reader to give
some account of the four great poets who enjoy a
European reputation — Firdawsi, Omar Khayyam,
Saadi, and Hafiz.

Glancing back through the centuries we find that
the Avesta, or Zoroastrian Scriptures, is the only
literature left by the Medes ; the Achsemenian kings
inscribed their achievements on the living rock, and
the Parthian dynasty left no records at all. Under
the Sasanian monarchs we hear of an epic written
in Pahlavi, the spoken tongue, treating of the national
legends, from which source Firdawsi, later on, drew
largely for his great poem ; but it is not until some
time after the Arab Conquest that what we know as
Persian literature came into existence, everything being
written in Arabic until about A.D. 850. From that
date, over a thousand years ago, there have been Persian

' " Literary History of Persia."

2S4

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 285

poets and writers, and so little has the language
altered during this long interval that a Persian of
to-day can read the earliest verse as easily as an
Englishman can read Shakespeare.

This literary movement reached its climax about
A.D. 1000 in Firdawsi's great patriotic epic, the
Shaknama, in which he collected the legends of
the Persian monarchs and heroes from the earliest
ages, carrying on and incorporating the work of the
Persian poet Daqiqi, who was murdered when he had
only composed a thousand couplets of the national epic.
Firdawsi, born in the tenth century, was a small
landowner living near Tus, a town in north-east
Persia fam.ous for its poets, philosophers, and astrono-
mers ; and it is said that he wrote his poem in order
to provide his only daughter with a good dowry.

It took over a quarter of a century to complete
the sixty thousand couplets of the " Iliad of the East,"
as it has been called, and when finished Firdawsi
dedicated it to that great patron of letters. Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazna, who at first was delighted with
the masterpiece. Unluckily for the poet, Mahmud's
Vizier, who had introduced Firdawsi to his royal
master, had powerful enemies, and these told the
monarch that the epic savoured of unorthodoxy,
and persuaded him to bestow on the writer a
contemptible reward, some say giving him in silver
the same number of coins that had been promised
to him in gold.

Firdawsi, outraged at this insult, for so he deemed
it, flung the money to the keeper of the public baths
and to a seller of sherbet, and then fled from the
vengeance that he knew would overtake him when

286 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the Sultan should hear how his royal bounty had
been spurned. He took refuge with a Persian prince,
who persuaded him to suppress a bitter satire which
he had composed upon Mahmud ; and after several
years he ventured to return to Tus, where he lived
in peace and died at a great age.

His patron the Vizier had never forgotten him,
and Professor Browne relates that the minister brought
the poet to his royal master's remembrance in the
following way. Mahmud, who was on a campaign,
had just summoned a town to surrender, and said
that he wondered what answer would be brought to
him from the recalcitrant citizens.

" And should the reply with my wish not accord

" Then Afrasiyab's field and the mace and the sword,"

quoted the Vizier, and the monarch asked for the name
of the author of the spirited lines. On hearing that
they were from the Shahnarna and that the poet had
never had any fitting reward for his great work,
Mahmud, at last repenting of his former meanness,
sent a caravan of camels laden with bales of indigo with
sixty thousand dinars (said to be the amount of the
reward promised originally) to the aged Firdawsi.
But tradition relates that as the camels turned in at
the Rudbar Gate, which is still standing, the remains
of Persia's Homer were carried to a grave outside
the city wall, the taint of unorthodoxy which had
marred the success of his great work following him
even after death, and preventing his burial in the
public cemetery.

Firdawsi is one of the greatest poets of all ages, and
in his immense epic he traces in majestic and vivid

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 287

language, the legendary history of Persia from the
earliest ages up to the Arab Conquest. What the
ordinary Persian of to-day knows of the history of his
country is gathered from the Shahnama. To give
an example of this, the writer was once told by an
educated Persian that King Jamshid had instituted the
Festival of No Ruz, her informant having no idea that
he was speaking of a mythical personage.

The legends narrated in this poem were the common
property of all Irani, and a prose "Book of Kings " had
already been compiled in Persian, translated from the
old Pahlavi epic of the Sasanian monarchs, and from
it the poet took much of his material. His poem
begins by relating how in prehistoric ages the Persians
sprang from a nomad tribe who dwelt in the Elburz
mountains and hunted wild animals to provide them-
selves with food and clothing. After a while they chose
a king, Kaiumers by name, who was so wise that even
the most savage beasts gave him homage, and his
subjects would have prospered greatly under his rule
if he had not had the misfortune to offend the King of
the Demons^ who reigned over the rich province of
Mazanderan. This monarch sent a huge army of
giants and monsters into Persia, destroyed the force
headed by the son of Kaiumers and obliged that ruler
himself to flee into hiding. But the demons did not
have things all their own way, for there arose a de-
liverer for Iran in the person of the gallant Husheng,
grandson of old Kaiumers. This youth called all the
beasts of prey to fight under his standard, and instruct-
ing the birds of the air to peck out the eyes of his
assailants, he succeeded in routing the enemy with
great slaughter, and killed the King of the Demons

288 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

with his own hand. From this time Persia was safe
from her foes, and her civilisation reached its climax
during the long reign, lasting seven centuries, of great
Jamshid, whom the Arab writers confuse with King
Solomon on account of his extraordinary wisdom and
power.

This Persian potentate founded the national spring
festival, forced the jinns to make splendid palaces
for him, to build ships and launch them on the Caspian,
and even to transport him through the air on his
jewelled throne from one city to another.

His reign was a Golden Age for Persia, for no one
ever got ill, or old, or died, and all were prosperous,
and might be so still if Jamshid, inflated with pride,
had not angered the gods by aspiring to divine
honours. At once the kingdom was invaded by Zohak
and his Arab hordes, and the Persians, seeing that
Fortune had turned her face from their sovereign, gave
their allegiance to the usurper, who slew their late
ruler.

But they soon discovered what they had done in
submitting to Zohak ; for their new king had two huge
serpents growing from his shoulders, and these horrible
creatures could only be appeased by feeding them with
human blood. And now ensued centuries of misery
for Iran, until the advent of a deliverer, Feridun by
name, who is regarded by Persians as a symbol of
justice and beneficence. It was revealed to Zohak in
a dream that he would be shortly overthrown, and his
diviners having informed him of the name of his future
conqueror, then an infant, he pursued the young
Feridun henceforth with such untiring zeal that the
child could not have escaped from the death that

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 289

threatened him, had it not been for a good genius who
sheltered him in the Elburz Mountains.

When Feridun was about sixteen the genius sent
him splendidly armed and horsed into the capital of
Zohak. As he entered the city he met Kavah, a black-
smith, who, frenzied with grief and rage because his
two sons had been offered up to the demon serpents,
was urging the populace to rise against the tyrant, and
holding up his leather apron as the standard of revolt.
As soon as the crowd saw the princely youth they felt
sure that he must be Feridun, the prophesied deliverer,
and they called upon him to lead them. This he
accordingly did, and Zohak met with the reward of his
crimes at last, and was bound with chains and immured
in a cavern on the side of Mount Demavend, where the
Persians say that his groans can sometimes be heard at
the present day. The blacksmith's apron, covered with
jewels, was used for centuries as the national standard
of Iran, until captured by the Arabs when they con-
quered Persia.

On the death of Feridun the interest of the legends
shifts from the kings, and centres in the hero Rustum,
who becomes the national Champion, and with the aid
of his celebrated steed Rakhsh upholds the throne of
Persia for generations, and constantly comes to the
rescue of its often incompetent occupants.

It is related that Rustum at the age of eight was as
strong as the most powerful warrior in a kingdom of
soldiers, and his first exploit was one that few grown
men would have cared to perform. A great white
elephant belonging to the king got loose one night
and went about the city killing every one that it met.
Rustum, being roused from sleep by the cries of the

290 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

townsfolk, seized his iron-headed mace, and rushing to
the door of the castle, commanded the soldiers on guard
to let him out. The men refused on account of his
tender age ; thereupon he knocked a soldier down,
broke the massive lock of the door, and made his way
to the seat of the disturbance. The elephant on seeing
the boy charged straight at him ; but Rustum delivered
the animal such a mighty blow with his mace, that after
staggering for a moment it fell down dead, and the
grateful populace acclaimed the lad as the Champion
of Persia.

Not long after this Afrasiyab, King of Tartary, in-
vaded Persia with a vast army, and naturally Rustum
was singled out to be one of the generals on the Persian
side, but before he could go to his post he had the
difficult task of finding a horse up to his great weight.
He spent some days wandering about the grassy up-
lands of Khorasan in search of a steed, and at last his
eye fell upon a splendid roan foal following a mare.
The men in charge of the horses warned the lad not to
go near it, because its mother killed all who approached
her offspring, which had demon blood in its veins.
These warnings, however, only stimulated the hero,
who promptly caught the foal with his lasso, and when
the mare rushed at him open-mouthed, he felled her
to the earth with one blow of his fist. And then
ensued a wild struggle between the maddened foal and
its future master, in which Rustum gained the day and
a marvellous steed about which the Persians tell almost
as many tales as about the hero himself.

In the great battle which shortly ensued between the
hosts of Iran and Tartary, such was the prowess of
Rustum that the Tartar army was broken up and fled

FOUR PERSIAN POETS

291

in confusion across the Persian border, after which Iran
had peace for many years.

But when foolish King Kai Kaus ascended the throne
of Persia he was so ill-advised as to invade the fertile
province of Mazanderan, which was known to be the
chosen haunt of the race of demons.

Zal and Rustum were left in charge of the kingdom,
and the monarch led his soldiers into the hostile
country, where the great White Demon and his
myrmidons caused darkness to envelope the Persian
army and such huge hailstones to fall that many of the
soldiers were killed, the rest with their king being taken
captive and deprived of their sight.

When news of this terrible disaster reached Persia
Rustum, without a moment's hesitation, saddled his
horse Rakhsh and rode off quite alone to free his
sovereign, the adventures which befell him on this
quest being perhaps the most famous in Persian legend,
and reminding the reader of the labours of Hercules.

On the first night of his journey Rustum was aroused
by a great noise, and found that Rakhsh had been
attacked by a huge lion, which, however, the noble horse
had killed ; but the hero was angry with his faithful
companion for having run such a risk alone, and
commanded it to awake him in the future if danger
threatened. A few nights later a monstrous serpent
crept from its lair, and approached the warrior, but
when Rakhsh neighed loudly the creature disappeared
and Rustum saw nothing. The same thing happened
as soon as the Champion had composed himself to
sleep again, and this time he was much annoyed at
being aroused, as he imagined, without need, and he
actually threatened to kill his horse if such a thing

292 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

occurred again. Just before dawn the monster made
its third appearance, and Rakhsh, neighing, rushed
at it with teeth and hoofs, while Rustum, springing
to his feet, joined in the fight and slew the serpent.

One evening in the wooded country of Mazanderan
the hero and his steed found food laid out at their
halting-place, and they were eating and drinking their
fill with delight when a fair lady made her appearance.
Rustum, wondering whether he and his horse owed
their meal to her kindness, handed her a goblet of ruby
wine, invoking the blessing of the gods upon it as he
did so, and was horrified to see her turn into a jet-black
demon before his eyes. He at once slew the apparition,
and realising that he had entered the haunted country
of Mazanderan, he was not altogether surprised that he
and Rakhsh had next to make their way through
a region where it was dark during the day as well as
the night.

At last, however, he reached the capital of Mazanderan,
and at his approach the demon warriors guarding the
city gates fled to the mountains, and the hero liberated
his countrymen. The king, his nobility, and thousands
of soldiers emerged from their dungeons into the
daylight, but what was the horror of their rescuer to
perceive that one and all were stone blind. Legend
relates that the invincible Champion lifted up his voice
and wept that his toils had been all in vain, for of
what use to Persia would a blind monarch and a
sightless army be?

But when King Kai Kaus explained to his deliverer
that all could recover their sight if they could bathe
their eyes in the blood of the Div-i-Safid, or great
White Demon, Rustum took heart again, and sallied

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 293

off to accomplish what is considered to be the greatest
exploit of his career.

He tracked the monster to its den in the mountains,
and at last found it asleep in its cave — a terrible crea-
ture, covered from head to foot with white hair. When
roused it issued forth, attended by a crowd of lesser
demons, and, brandishing an enormous millstone above
its head, it promptly threw it at Rustum. Luckily, this
powerful missile fell short of its aim, and in another
second hero and demon were struggling together in a
life-and-death combat, the like of which had never been
waged since the world began. Again and again first
one and then the other got the mastery, and both became
exhausted from severe wounds. In fact, Rustum was
getting the worst of it when the gods vouchsafed him a
miraculous accession of strength, and in a last despairing
effort he hurled the demon on to the rocky floor of its
cavern with such terrific force that it expired, rending
the air with its yells.

The hundreds of little demons that had watched the
conflict with keen interest, shrivelled up and died at
the moment of their master's decease, and Rustum,
collecting some of the blood of his foe in his helmet,
returned to the Persians and restored their sight with
the horrible fluid. Thus ended the celebrated Heft
Khan, or " Seven Stages " of Rustum, the Knight-
Errant of Persia.

After this Iran was at peace for a time, and her hero,
having nothing particular to do, spent his days in
hunting the fleet wild ass of the desert. On one of these
expeditions he came to a little kingdom on the border of
Khorasan, and fell in love with, and married, the princess.

Rustum, however, was not the kind of man to care to

294 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

be long at ease, and after some months he left his fair
wife. But before they parted he gave her a talisman,
telling her to bind it round the arm of her child if the
gods should grant them a son, and to send him news if
such an event should occur.

In due course a splendid boy was born to Tamineh,
who, fearing that her child might be taken from her
should her husband know the truth, sent a trusty slave
to inform him that he was the father of a daughter.

The young Sohrab grew up full of pride at being the
son of the great Champion, and when he was hardly
more than a boy he sallied out into the world, mounted
on a steed of the race of Rakhsh, and announcing that
he intended to conquer Persia and place Rustum on the
throne.

Afrasiyab, king of Tartary, Persia's deadliest enemy,
heard of the young hero, and wishing to gain such an
asset for his side, persuaded him to join his army in an
invasion of Persia. As of course the sovereign had no
intention of handing Iran over to Rustum should he
conquer the country, he told the generals of his army
that they must be careful not to let Sohrab know which
of the Persian warriors was his mighty father, hoping
that the two Champions might engage in mortal combat
and kill one another, thus leaving him free to seize
Persia.

King Kai Kaus had treated Rustum with base ingrati-
tude of late years, having apparently forgotten how the
hero had delivered him from the White Demon. He
almost ignored the great warrior when he came to court ;
but Rustum made no complaint, and lived in retirement
in his province of Sistan. Yet, true patriot that he was,
when the news of Persia's danger reached him, he lost

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 295

no time in setting forth to the help of his sovereign.
When he arrived at the Persian camp and heard on all
sides highly-coloured accounts of the prowess of the
young Tartar Champion, it is said that he wondered
whether Tamineh could have deceived him and whether
this wonderful Sohrab might not be in truth his own son.
Sohrab, on his side, was anxious to have Rustum's tent
pointed out to him, and commanded a captured Persian
soldier to do so ; but the man, fearing from the youth's
eagerness that he intended to slay the Champion by
treachery, replied that the latter had not yet arrived
from Zabulistan.

On the next day the Persian and Tartar hosts fully
armed stood opposite to one another waiting for the
battle to commence, when suddenly Sohrab stepped
out into the open space between the armies and loudly
challenged the king Kai Kaus to single combat. A
shudder ran through the Persians, for every man knew
that their sovereign, caring only for luxury, did not
excel in feats of arms, and a murmur went up that all
would be lost unless Rustum came to the rescue.
Messengers ran in haste to the tent where he lay, telling
him that not a single Persian warrior dared to face
young Sohrab, and thereupon the warrior, donning his
suit of black mail, and telling the Persians that he
wished to keep his name a secret from the Tartars,
issued forth and met his opponent.

As soon as he set eyes on the boy he was touched
with pity on account of his youth, and urged him to
give up the combat. " I will yield to no man save to
Rustum," was the answer. " Are you by any happy
chance that mighty hero ? "

But the Champion only replied that he was but as a

296 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

servant to the man who would never deign to fight
with a mere child; and, stung by this taunt, Sohrab
rushed angrily at his unknown father, and the fight
began.

So fierce was the encounter that both bled from many
grievous wounds, and having bent their spears and
swords and broken their clubs and bows, they began to
wrestle, but as neither could get the advantage of the
other, and as sunset was approaching, they agreed to
continue their combat on the next day.

On the morrow, when the Champions met face to face,
Sohrab felt such a strong affection for his adversary,
that he begged him to become his friend. Rustum,
however, firmly declined his overtures, and soon they
were locked together in a deadly wrestle, during which
Sohrab got his foe beneath him, and was about to des-
patch him when Rustum called out that it was against
Persian custom to kill an enemy until he had bitten the
ground twice. With a magnanimity which his father
was far from sharing, the youth suffered his adversary
to rise, and it was decided to conclude the fight on the
morrow.

The Tartars were furious with Sohrab for having
allowed his enemy to escape when he had him in his
power, and Rustum himself felt that night that in all
probability he would be with the gods on the morrow,
for he clearly saw that age had robbed him of much of
his former strength and quickness. In his extremity
he prayed to the dwellers above, and his prayer was
answered, for when he met his foe the next day he felt
himself endowed with miraculous power.

With a cry of gratitude he fell upon his opponent, and
though the wrestlers appeared evenly matched for a

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 297

space, yet Sohrab's grip grew weaker as time went by,
and Rustum, putting forth all his force in one great
effort, hurled the youth to the ground, and instantly
drove a dagger into his side.

The air was rent with Persian shouts of joy and
Tartar yells of grief; but the old hero noted none of
these things, for he heard his adversary gasp out that
he had invaded Persia in order to find Rustum, his father,
who would assuredly avenge the death of his son.

In an agony the Persian Champion asked Sohrab
whether he possessed any token to prove that he was
really the son of Rustum, and the dying youth begged
him to strip off his coat of mail and he would find the
talisman given years before to Princess Tamineh.

When Rustum saw the amulet he knew that his son
lay before him, and in his remorse he would have killed
himself if Sohrab had not besought him to live and con-
tinue to defend Persia. The youth then begged his
father to allow the Tartar army to depart unscathed ;
and having drawn the dagger from his side, he breathed
his last, Rustum lying on the ground sobbing terribly,
and Rakhsh, according to the legend, weeping with the
voice of a man.

As Matthew Arnold puts it in his fine poem^ —

'' So, on the bloody sand, Sohrab lay dead ;
And the great Rustum drew his horseman's cloak
Down o'er his face, and sat by his dead son.
As those black granite pillars, once high rear'd
By Jemshid in PersepoHs, to bear
His house, now 'mid their broken flights of steps
Lie prone, enormous, down the mountain side —
So in the sand lay Rustum by his son."

"Sohrab and Rustum."

298 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

It is sad to relate that the end of the great Champion
of Persia was compassed by treachery and by his own
brother Shughad, who had always been jealous of his
renown.

The legend tells that this unnatural brother laid a plot
with the King of Kabul, who invited Rustum to hunt
with him. At a certain part of the road this monarch
arranged a series of pits, which he ordered to be stuck
full of swords and knives with the points upwards, and
lightly covered over with earth. When they came near
the fatal spot the king requested his guest to precede
him ; but Rakhsh, snorting with terror, refused to move
until beaten severely by his irate master, who, in spite
of generations of experience of his steed's wisdom, never
trusted to the faithful animal's instincts. On this occa-
sion Rakhsh started forward with the pain, and fell into
the death-trap, struggling out only to fall into another
and yet another, until at last both horse and rider lay
dying from their wounds, their murderers watching them
with fiendish glee. Rustum asked his brother as a last
favour to hand him his bow and arrows in order to keep
off the beasts of prey that would attack them at night-
fall ; and as soon as he had possessed himself of the
weapon, he drew the bow with an expiring effort and
shot the treacherous Shughad through the heart.
Thereupon he fell back dead, and his noble steed
breathed its last at the same moment, an unworthy
ending to the lives of the greatest and longest-lived
warrior and horse in legend.

With the death of mighty Rustum the mythical
Kaiani dynasty nears its end, and we now come to
historical facts much embroidered with fiction.

Alexander the Great, for example, actually figures as

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 299

a Persian hero, in order to appease the vanity of those
whom he conquered. According to the Shahnama his
mother was the daughter of Philip of Macedon, and
was married to Darius ; but was divorced by that
monarch and sent back to Macedonia, where her son,
the rightful heir to the Persian throne, was born. Thus
when later on Alexander led his armies into Persia, he
was really fired with the laudable desire to wrest his
lawful inheritance from Darius the Second, his half-
brother !

Firdawsi touches upon the Parthian period very
lightly in his great epic, the Persians looking upon this
dynasty as rude and uncultured. He then enters upon
what to Iranians was the Golden Age of Sasanian rule,
and finishes his poem with the Arab conquest of Persia,
in the account of which he is careful to omit anything
injurious to Mohammedan pride. Throughout this
period he is on historical ground, though he inserts
much romantic fiction, Ardeshir, the first Sasanian
monarch's conquest of Kerman, being poetically de-
scribed as an encounter between the king and a huge
worm {kirm) or dragon.

The writer has spoken somewhat fully of this
legendary history of Persia, because it forms a part
of the life of the people in a way hardly to be under-
stood by more highly educated nations. Rustum and
his exploits ; Jamshid possessor of power over genii ;
Feridun the Just, and foolish Kai Kaus are all real per-
sonages to the ordinary Persian, who delights to listen
to a recitation from the Shahnama, and to feel his heart
expand as he hears of the bygone glories of Iran.

Although Firdawsi is the only poet whom we have
mentioned, yet during his lifetime and later there was a

300 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

great outburst of literary genius, spoken of by Professor
Browne ^ as the " Ghaznawi Period," from the fact that
it centred in Ghazna, where it received encouragement
from Sultan Mahmud, that great patron of letters. The
famous doctor and philosopher, Abu AH ibn Sina,
known as Avicenna, whose writings so largely influenced
Europe during the Middle Ages, is perhaps chief among
many celebrated authors, and the poet Nizami, who
flourished about a century after Firdawsi and wrote
the Sikandarnama or "Book of Alexander," is still
widely read.

In the eleventh century Nishapur was famous for its
learning and its commerce, both of which were fostered
by the Nizam-ul-Mulk, a native of Tus, who was vizier
to the Seljuk monarchs Alp Arslam and Malik Shah.
This minister had such a love of learning that he was
said to have given a tenth of his income annually to
found and endow colleges, Nishapur and Isfahan, among
other cities, profiting by his bounty. It is melancholy
to think that the former town, the birthplace, residence,
and grave of Omar, and once one of the richest and
largest towns in Persia, is now merely a collection of
mud-built houses with no traces of past splendour.
About A.D. 1 1 53 it was devastated by the Turkomans,
who burnt and destroyed it to such an extent that when
the inhabitants ventured to return they found only a
heap of ruins. Less than a century later the Mongol
hordes swept into Khorasan, and not only was Nishapur
again demolished, but the unfortunate townsfolk were
massacred. Since then Turkomans, Uzbegs, and
Afghans have done their best to prevent the town
regaining its former prosperity — in fact, it is doubtful
' " Literary History of Persia."

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 301

whether the inhabitants of the district would have
dared to return had it not been for the extreme fertihty
of the soil.

Here the astronomer-poet, Omar Khayyam, was born,
probably about 1040, and curiously enough his reputa-
tion in Persia rests on his achievements in astronomy
and mathematics, educated Persians being surprised
when informed that in England he is admired perhaps
above all their poets, and that societies exist for the
study of his quatrains. In the oldest " Lives of the
Persian Poets" that has come down to us, written about
A.D. 1200, there is no mention of Omar Khayyam, who
owes his European and American fame to Fitzgerald's
superb translation of his rubaHs, all of which cannot,
however, with certainty be attributed to him.

The information that we possess about the man
whose very name carries a fascination to the Western
world is but scanty. We hear that his father was
probably a tent-maker, but that Omar was given the
best education that the age afforded. He was well
versed in the Koran, in Arabic, astronomy, and
philosophy, and after a time spent at Merv, famous for
its library, took up his residence at Nishapur, where he
taught at the college, and was treated with high honour
by Malik Shah. His knowledge of medicine caused
him to be called in to prescribe when the little prince
Sanjar was ill, and his pre-eminence in astronomy
placed him on the committee of eight who were
entrusted by Malik Shah with the reform of the
Calendar.

Omar Khayyam left behind him works on Euclid,
algebra, metaphysics, and natural science, and had some
reputation in his day as a poet, one of the quatrains

302 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

which he composed at odd times being quoted by a
later writer. As to religion, he was a disciple of great
Avicenna, and was fiercely attacked on account of his
reputation as a free-thinker and an atheist.

He was also credited with a gift of foretelling the
future, and this is brought out by one of his pupils,
who writes that the master prophesied that his tomb
would be hidden twice a year by the falling blossoms of
fruit trees. This was regarded at the time as idle talk,
but when Omar's follower visited the grave several
years later and found the spot buried under the petals
of peach and pear, he states that the prediction returned
to his mind and that he wept the loss of his master,
" that proof of the Truth," as he calls him. Omar's
grave is still to be seen at Nishapur, but Major Sykes ^
writes that the remains of the poet are not permitted to
rest within the shrine because he was a Sunni. His
uninscribed plaster tomb is in an alcove open to the air,
and perchance the spring winds carry falling blossoms
to it.

In every notice that we have of Omar he is called
" the wise," " one of the most learned men in Khorasan,"
or " versed in all sciences," but nearly all speak with
reprobation of his religious views, which one writer
stigmatises as " corrupt and shameless," And yet when
he died, about A.D. 1123, his passing might have been
an example to those who denounced him. It is related
that he was reading the works of Avicenna when he felt
the approach of death, and, slipping his gold toothpick
between the parchment leaves, he summoned his friends
to hear his last words. When they were assembled he

' "Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Omar Khayyam" {Travel and
Exploration, September, 1909).

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 303

performed the evening prayer, and then said, as he
bowed his forehead to the ground, " O God ! truly
I have endeavoured to know Thee according to the
limit of my powers, therefore forgive me, for indeed the
little knowledge of Thee that I possess is my only
means of approach to Thee." With these words his
soul passed from among those present, who were left in
much grief.

It is close upon eight centuries since Omar Khayyam
passed away, and yet his thoughts on life and death are
fresh as if he had written in our own generation, and to
many his doubts are as insoluble. It is a great soul,
athirst for a knowledge of God, and a passionate seeker
after truth, that reveals itself to us, and in spite of
difficulties and contradictions in his utterances, he
appeals strongly to those who care for the spiritual
more than for the material.

It must be remembered that in the RubcHiyat each
quatrain is complete in itself, and as these verses were
written at different times and in different moods, they
do not link on to one another to form a connected
poem.

" I sent my soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that after-life to spell :
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answer' d, ' I myself am Heav'n and Hell.

"We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; "

304 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

"Yon rising Moon that looks for us again —
How oft hereafter will she wax and wane ;
How oft hereafter rising look for us
Through this same Garden — and for one in vain

"And when like her, O Saki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scattered on the grass,
And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass ! " '

Early in the thirteenth century Persia was invaded by
the Mongols under Chinghiz Khan, who overran Asia,
and even carried death and destruction as far as Ger-
many. A blow was dealt to Persian civilisation from
which it never recovered ; and it is horrible to read how
these barbarians reduced Tus, the native city of Fir-
dawsi, to a mass of ruins, and how they destroyed
Nishapur, actually building the heads of the slain into
pyramids. Men, women, and children were massacred
in cold blood when the Mongols took a city, priceless
manuscripts were burnt, the shrines despoiled of their
treasures, and flourishing lands were turned into deserts.
Fortunately the successors of Hulagu Khan embraced
Islam, and henceforth matters were far easier for the
conquered Persians ; in fact, the great poet Saadi of
Shiraz is contemporary with the Mongol invasion. The
Persians class this poet with Firdawsi and Anwari (the
latter little known to European fame), calling them the
" Three Prophets of Poetry."

Saadi, whose real name is Musharrifu'd-Din, was born
at Shiraz about 1184, and died there at a great age in
' Fitzgerald's translation.

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 305

1 29 1. Left an orphan in early youth, Saadi spent the
student period of his life at Baghdad, the capital of the
Khalifs and the seat of learning of the Mohammedan
world, and while there made his first pilgrimage to
Mecca. According to his biographers Saadi visited the
sacred city no less than fourteen times in his long life,
and always made the journey on foot. Even when a
student at Baghdad, the fever of travel had seized upon
him, for we read that he journeyed to Kashgar, the
inhabitants of which far-off city received him well,
having already heard of his literary fame.

When his education was completed the poet started
off on many years of travel, during the course of which
he visited India, Syria, Arabia, and Asia Minor, among
other countries, embodying many of his experiences
in his poems.

On one occasion he was captured by the Crusaders
and made to dig in the trenches before Tripoli. He
was, however, ransomed by a rich compatriot of
Aleppo, who gave him his daughter in marriage,
together with a dowry of a hundred dinars. The
lady turned out a shrew, and according to the Gulistan
made the poet's life a burden to him, saying on one
occasion, " Are you not the man that my father bought
from the Feringhis for ten dinars ? " " It is true," was
the reply of Saadi ; " he ransomed me for ten dinars
and then sold me into slavery to you for a hundred."

Towards the end of his life Saadi built himself
a hermitage outside the walls of Shiraz on the spot
where his tomb now stands, and here he was visited
by the noblest in the kingdom, who delighted to give
him rich gifts. Of these he kept but little for himself
and bestowed the rest on the poor, thus practising that

3o6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

liberality which he inculcates so frequently in his
writings.

The tomb of Saadi is a humble one in a neglected
enclosure, and no admirers are buried round him as
is the case with his brilliant compatriot Hafiz, the
reason being that the author of the Gulistan and the
Bustan is suspected of having been a Sunni. Such
religious views are an unpardonable offence in Persia,
the stronghold of the Shiah faith — in fact, a high priest
of Shiraz, in a fit of fanaticism, actually destroyed the
monument first erected over the poet's grave. On his
headstone is carved the same Arabic inscription that
is on the tomb of Hafiz : " He \i.e.^ Allah] is everlast-
ing, and everything else passes away," and there is
also a quotation from the Bustan.

The Bustan (the Orchard) and the Gulistan (the
Rose Garden) are considered Saadi's masterpieces, the
former being a poem and the latter a mass of prose
anecdotes, interspersed with verses. Besides several
other works the poet is justly celebrated for his
ghazals, or odes, in which he is only rivalled by his
great fellow-townsman Hafiz.

Here are a few lines from one admired by all
Shirazis : —

"O joyous and gay is the New Year's Day, and in Shiraz most

of all ;
Even the stranger forgets his home and becomes its willing

thrall.
O'er the garden's Egypt, Joseph-like, the fair red rose is king
And the Zepyhr, e'en to the heart of the town, doth the scent of

his raiment bring." ^

Translated by Professor E. G. Browne.

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 307

The Gulistan is a collection of stories and pre-
cepts inculcating lessons of morality, policy, and
savoir vivre ; its reflections are often profound, and
the many stones are told in a piquant and some-
times epigrammatic style, the whole work being inter-
spersed with verses that give it variety. In this mine
of worldly-wisdom the moralist, the man of the world,
and even the corrupt can find matter to their taste.
It is not too much to say that, next to the Koran,
the works of Saadi are the chief moral guide of his
countrymen, and the traveller, if he have any inter-
course with educated Persians of almost any class,
will not be long in conversation with them before he
hears the familiar Sa'adi guft (Saadi says). There is
indeed much of wisdom and truth to be found in
the poet's works, written in an elegant style and with
an exquisite choice of language. Yet though a young
man, thoroughly imbued with the precepts of the
sage of Shiraz, would probably make a success of his
life in a worldly way, yet he might run some risk of
losing his own soul in the process. The poet writes
in a manly spirit, loves tolerance, has an abhorrence
of religious hypocrisy, and enjoins contentment and
abstinence, yet his maxims would be apt to stifle any
generous impulse of pity towards and trust in mankind.

The following pretty conceit from the Gulistan shows
only one side of the character of the shrewd dervish
with his plentiful supply of mother-wit : —

" A perfumed bit of clay came to my hand one day when I was
in the bath, and I inquired, 'Art thou musk or ambergris,
because thy deUcious odour intoxicates me ? ' It repHed, ' I was
formerly a mere lump of clay, but I have been in the company
of the rose.' "

3o8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Of course, the standard of morality is not the same
for the East as for the West, and we must remember
that " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth " is the law
of Islam, there being no room for forgiveness of injuries
in its code. This the following story shows : —

" A soldier hit a pious man with a stone, but the
dervish, being unable to avenge himself, bided his time
and kept the stone. After awhile the soldier offended
the king, who punished him by imprisoning him in a
well, whereupon the dervish appeared, leant over and
dropped the stone on his former enemy's head." Saadi
goes on to draw the moral that it is unwise to contend
with a wicked man when he is in power, but " wait till
fortune renders him feeble, and then pick out his
brains."

There is also the story of King Hormuzd, who im-
prisoned his father's ministers, and when asked what
fault they had committed replied that they had done
nothing wrong, but he perceived that they were afraid
of their sovereign, and he imagined that this fear might
urge them to take his life. " Dread him who dreads
thee, O wise man ! Seest thou not when the cat
becomes desperate how he plucks out with his claws
the eyes of a tiger? The viper bites the shepherd's
bare foot because it fears that he will crush in its head
with a stone."

And, again there is the tale of the youth who was
instructed by a famous wrestler in all his tricks save
one. The ungrateful stripling boasted to the king that
he was as good a man, if not better, than his master,
and the monarch accordingly ordered a trial of strength
between the two. The veteran immediately threw his
pupil by the aid of the trick that he had kept in reserve,

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 309

and remarked that he had not taught it to the youth
because he remembered the saying of the wise that it
was folly to give so much strength to a friend that if he
became a foe he would have the power to injure.

Moreover, Saadi's regard for truth was not very
strong, for in the first anecdote in the Gulistan the
moral is inculcated that " A lie that results in good is
better than a truth that brings trouble." These extracts
are perhaps sufficient to show that the poet's message
to his countrymen is that of a man of the world, not
troubled with too many scruples, full of common sense,
and anxious to stand well with the authorities both in
this life and the next.

The great poet Hafiz, really Shemseddin Mohammed
by name, his sobriquet being given him from the fact
that he had taken the theological degree of Hafiz, was
born at Shiraz, probably in the early part of the four-
teenth century. We first hear of him as being poet-
laureate and in high favour at the court of Sultan Shah
Mesoud, the Governor or Satrap of Fars, which province
had Shiraz for its capital.

This city, beautifully situated on a plain surrounded
by mountains, is dear to the heart of every Persian, for
Fars is the cradle of his race, and her capital, besides
being his idea of an earthly paradise, has produced two
of the greatest poets of Iran. Although Shiraz suffered
from various changes of dynasty during the lifetime of
Hafiz, yet it does not appear that they made any
difference in the material circumstances of the poet,
each ruler in his turn feeling proud of being the
patron of the great lyrist.

Fars, in common with the rest of the empire, had

3IO PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

formed part of the realms of the Khalifate up to the
sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, after which
date it was ruled over by the dynasty founded by
Hulagu Khan. As the later Sultans of this Mongol
dynasty became effete, Persia was split up into number-
less small kingdoms, over which satraps ruled with
supreme power, and this state of affairs continued until
the conquest of Timur the Lame at the end of the four-
teenth century.

There is a tradition that when the rough Tartar
entered Shiraz in 1 393 he summoned the poet into his
presence and demanded of him how he had dared to
say in one of his lyrics that he would gladly give the
conqueror's cities of Bokhara and Samarkand in
exchange for the mole on the cheek of his beloved.

" So but that Turk of Shiraz take my heart within her hand
of snow,
Bokhara, ay, and Samarcand, on her black mole will I be-
stow." •

It is said that Hafiz answered that such lavishness on
his part had brought him to his present poverty, and the
Tartar, laughing at the readiness of the reply, took him
into favour.

In those days a man of letters depended entirely
upon the munificence of his patron, and it says much
for the estimation in which learning was held that
even when a robber-chieftain, such as the founder of the
Muzafferi dynasty, seized the province, he immediately
reinstated the poet in his office.

Hafiz loved his native city passionately, only leaving
her some three or four times during the course of his
' viii. I, I. Payne's translation.

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 311

long life, although sovereigns from other parts of Persia,
from Baghdad, and even from India offered him great
rewards if he would reside at their courts.

In one of his odes he mentioned her famous stream
and pleasure-garden in these words : —

" Give cupbearer the wine that's left ; for thou'lt not find in
Paradise
The banks of Ruknabad, nor yet Musella's rosegarths all
a-blow." '

And, indeed, he had some reason for his predilection,
as the reader will see from the following quotation : 2 —

" We were now at that point known to all students of Hafiz,
called ' Tang-i-Allahu Akbar,' because whoever first beholds
Shiraz hence is constrained by the exceeding beauty of the sight
to cry out in admiration ' AUahu Akbar ' — ' God is most great ! '
At our very feet in a grassy, fertile plain, girt with purple hills
(on the loftier summits of which the snow still lingered) and half
concealed amidst gardens of dark stately cypresses, wherein the
rose and the judas-tree in luxuriant abundance struggled with a
host of other flowers for the mastery of colour, sweet and beauti-
ful in its garb of spring verdure which clothed the very roofs of
the bazaars, studded with many a slender minaret, and many a
turquoise-hued dome, lay the home of Persian culture, the mother
of Persian genius, the sanctuary of poetry and philosophy,
Shiraz."

Like Omar Khayyam, the lyrist was regarded as
unorthodox by the " unco' guid " of his day, and at his
death these latter did their utmost to prevent his burial
with Mohammedan rites. According to tradition his
friends proposed to settle the dispute by drawing a lot
from a mass of his couplets written on slips and shaken

"^ viii. 2, J. Payne's translation.

^ "A Year among the Persians," Professor E. G. Browne.

312 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

up in an urn, and their opponents agreeing to this, a
child is said to have picked out the following lines at
random : —

"Withhold not the foot from the funeral of Hafiz ;
For though he be drowned in sin, he fareth to Heaven." '

This, of course, settled the matter, and the poet was
carried to his grave in peace. In spite of severe opposi-
tion from the orthodox, who represented their famous
fellow-citizen as an enemy to the Faith, and a man of
immoral life, his poems spread speedily throughout
Persia, India, and Turkey — in fact, wherever the Persian
language was read or spoken.

Hafiz was an epicurean, a man who snatched what
pleasure he could from the passing hour, who enjoyed
wine, women, and music, and rejoiced in the beauties of
Nature. As regards religion, he appears to have been
a tolerant man of the world with no particular bias to
any creed.

He is looked upon by some as a master in the art of
pleasure, and by others as a saint, these latter opening
the works of the poet at random with an invocation
when they practise divination. Moreover, the Sufis who
opposed him so fiercely during his lifetime actually
pretended after his death that he was in reality one of
their number, and that his constant allusions to the joys
of love and wine were meant to be taken in a spiritual
sense. This, however, will not be the view of the
ordinary unbiassed reader, who will look upon the poet
as the reverse of a mystic ; and the following couplets
from one of his odes are characteristic as showing his
fondness for Nature, wine, love, and music : —
^ J. Payne's translation.

FOUR PERSIAN POETS 313

CXXI.

I. "Now that the rose in the meads To life is returned from
the dead,
The violet prone at her feet Layeth in homage its head."

3. " Sit never in rose-time without Beloved and ghittern and
wine,
For a week, like the season of life. Is the time of the
roses red." '

The handsome tomb of Hafiz at Shiraz, planted
round with tall cypresses, is constantly visited by all
classes, the pleasure-seekers coming to pay homage to
a master who understood the joie de vivre, and who
loved art for art's sake ; while the religious look upon
the poet as a mystic, whose most apparently material
utterances have an esoteric meaning for the elect. Hafiz
has thus the somewhat remarkable fate of being adored
by both saints and sinners after his death, and his tomb
is surrounded by the graves of countless admirers.

Two among the various inscriptions on his tomb-
stone show these different points of view : —

" When thou passest by my tombstone, call down a blessing.
For the libertines of the whole world will resort to it in
pilgrimage."

And in contrast to this sentiment is the following
inscription : —

"That Lamp of the mystics. Master Hafiz,
(Who was a candle of the Divine Light, since he sought a

resting-place in the Earth of Musalla),
Look for his date from the Earth of Musalla."

J. Payne's translation.

314

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Only the first and fourth of these Hnes are actually
inscribed on the tomb, but it is interesting to see how
in these inscriptions the man of pleasure and the mystic
both claim the poet for their own.

CHAPTER XVIII

A SLIGHT ACCOUNT OF THE ARTS AND
CRAFTS OF PERSIA

THE Persians have always been an artistic people,
and the fine ruins of Persepolis, the great arch
of Ctesiphon, and the bas-reliefs of Bisitun and Naksh-
i-Rustum testify to their genius for architecture and
sculpture during the Achaemenian and Sasanian dynas-
ties. Although the Mohammedan religion forbade
presentments of living things as contrary to the Koran,
yet the noble mosques and shrines that adorn the
principal cities, and not a few of the palaces and houses,
prove that the Persians have not lost their sense of
beauty.

The traveller passing through the district round the
Caspian will notice the carved and fretted woodwork
ornamenting the better-class dwelling-places, which
have many a quaint balcony and verandah ; and
throughout the Persian Plateau he will admire the
skilful use made of plaster, ordinary-looking houses
being beautified with stucco facades and imposing-look-
ing loggias supported on columns. Inside, the principal
room will probably have an enormous window made of
stained glass set in small leaded squares, the effect
of the light streaming through and steeping the room
315

3i6 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

in soft colours being very beautiful. It must, however,
be confessed that such a window is a dubious advantage
during the winter, because, no putty being used, all the
winds of heaven seem to blow freely between the count-
less panes.

A characteristic decoration of a house is to mould
the ceilings in the honeycomb pattern, sticking hundreds
of tiny pieces of mirror- work into the plaster when wet,
the effect being quite fairy-like when the sun flashes
upon the facets. Tiles are used extensively in decora-
tion, also bricks glazed in several colours, and an
effective mosaic. It is probably this latter that is men-
tioned in the Book of Esther, where at the palace of
Artaxerxes at Shushan the people feasted in the court-
yard " upon a pavement of red and blue and white and
black marble." ^

The domes and facades of all important mosques and
shrines, some of the Shah's palaces, many gateways,
and occasionally the vaulted roofs of the bazaars, are
decorated with glazed tiles or bricks principally coloured
in blues, greens, and yellows, relieved with black and
white ; and in the clear atmosphere of Iran they give
a touch of splendour to the scene.

But at the present day nothing has been produced
in any way comparable to the superb enamelled tiles
found in the palace of Darius at Susa,^ baked five
hundred years before our era, and showing an artistic
genius in the portrayal of the figures of the archers and
the sinuous bodies of the great lions of the frieze. Then
ensues a long blank until we come to the beautiful
twelfth- and thirteenth-century tile work, which degene-

' Book of Esther.

= " La Perse, la Chaldee et la Susiane." Dieulafoy.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF PERSIA 317

rated, and is hardly worthy of mention after the death
of Shah Abbas in the seventeenth century. These
kashi (tiles), as they are called, indicating that the art
took its rise in the city of Kashan, are still the glory
of many mosques and shrines. Perhaps the most
beautiful are those that go by the name of lustre
or reflet. The glaze with which they were covered
is now a lost art, and was mixed with gold or some
other metal which gave it a peculiar iridescence.

Sir Murdoch Smith ^ considers that lustre ware was
made in Persia certainly six hundred, and possibly two
thousand, years ago. As a rule these tiles have a pattern
in rich brown on a white background, or vice versa, the
usually conventional designs being outlined with great
delicacy. In one large plaque from the ruins of old
Kerman, now in Major Sykes' collection, the great
purple Arabic letters, raised half an inch, are entwined
with leaves of turquoise blue. Neither letter nor leaf
is iridescent, but stands boldly out from a white and
brown lustre background.

Other kashi in the same collection come from north-
east Persia, and are magnificent in their blues relieved
by white and gold, and bear the date A.D. 1444. Their
design is identical with the tiles that adorn Timur the
Lame's fam.ous mosque at Samarkand, and which were
made by men of Kum.

The exquisite lustre ware used for objets de luxe is
now hard to find, most of what we see in museums
having been exhumed from the ruins of Rh6 (the
ancient Rhages). One of the best specimens ever seen
by the writer is in a hall of the Alhambra, and is a
great two-handled vase, adorned with gazelles ; the
^ " Persian Art."

3i8 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

prevailing colours are blue and purple and the animals
are outlined in golden brown on a white background.
This vase, and its pair in the Madrid Museum, were
made in Spain, and show how Persians influenced art
under the Moorish occupation of that country.

Early in the seventeenth century Shah Abbas im-
ported Chinese workmen into his country to teach his
subjects the art of making porcelain, and the Chinese
influence is very strong in the designs on this ware.
Chinese marks also were copied, so that to scratch an
article is sometimes the only means of proving it to
be of Persian manufacture, for the Chinese glaze, hard
as iron, will take no mark.

At the present day many of the old arts have died
out, probably from lack of patronage ; in fact, practi-
cally every fine building, bridge, or public work is
popularly said to date from the time of Shah Abbas.
Though of course this is an exaggeration, yet little
has been done to improve the country and encourage
its arts since the extinction of the Sefavi dynasty.

The handsome repouss^ silver-work of Shiraz and the
delicate incising on silver, characteristic of Isfahan,
are still much practised in Persia. Graceful bowls and
ewers for rose-water, jugs and lamps of brass have a
lavish wealth of design which, however, does not equal
the old work to be picked up in the country. The same
also applies to the decorative modern damascened work
of gold beaten into steel, and also to the richly adorned
kalian tops ; for the translucent green and blue enamel
and the wonderful groups of figures on small enamel
plaques are seldom seen nowadays.

The beautiful inlaid work of ivory, mother of pearl,
and metal on wood is still carried to such a pitch of

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF PERSIA 319

perfection that Mr. Benjamin ^ counted four hundred and
twenty-eight distinct pieces on a square inch of this
work. Seal-cutting flourishes, for every one affixes his
seal to a letter instead of signing his name ; and papier
mache mirrors and pen boxes are still made. These
latter cannot vie with the mellow tones of the old work,
in which it is curious to see presentments of the Holy
Family, copied from Italian pictures, and looking
strangely out of place in a Mohammedan bazaar.
Shah Abbas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
sent Persians to Italy to learn painting, and this is one
of the results ; another being the Italianesque treatment
of designs for carpets made at that period.

Fine writing must now be considered as practically
a lost art, printing having largely replaced the cali-
graphy which was valued so highly in the old days
that large sums would be given for a single line by
a skilled writer ; but at the present time there is little
demand for illuminated manuscript copies of Saadi
and Hafiz.

As to textiles, velvet is made at Kashan, often with
an effective pattern of cypresses and peacocks ; but it
cannot be mentioned in the same breath with the
old velvet, which has a colour and texture unknown
to the modern. The specialite of Resht are showy
embroidered saddle coverings, differently coloured bits
of material being appliqued on to a cloth with braid and
a variety of silk stitchings, the effect being good
if somewhat garish. Kerman produces most elaborate
embroideries on a fine woollen material, also splendid
shawls, which are largely used for kalats or " coats of
honour." These are presented by the Shah to a subject
' " Persia and the Persians."

320 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

he wishes to single out for distinction ; the courtiers
wear them when in full dress, and they cover the bier
of a rich man on its way to the grave. Yezd has a
cypress-patterned silk material which is used for the
same objects, and the traveller can purchase here
marvellous "drawn-thread" work both in silk and cotton.

It must be understood that everything in the country
is made by hand, there being no machinery, and this
gives an individuality to all that is produced. In fact,
it is never wise to put off buying an article in the belief
that others like it are certain to be brought up later for
sale, as in all probability it is unique.

Perhaps the art in which modern Persia chiefly
excels is carpet-making, and there is hardly a visitor
to the country who has not fallen under the spell of
this beautiful industry.

There are twenty to thirty different centres where
carpets are produced, Sultanabad being the chief; and
the towns of Kerman, Shiraz, Meshed, and Kermanshah,
together with several nomad tribes, all weave these
fabrics.

They are made on hand-looms, and in the factories
the pattern is read out to the weavers, most of
whom are children. " Two green and four black
forward, three to be left for grounding, six blue,"
&c., calls out the ustad from the carefully drawn
design he holds, or, more probably, from memory.
The children answer him in their piping voices,
" Two green and four black to place, have eaten six
blue," and so on, as they deftly twist and knot the
fine wool, only one strand of wool going to each stitch
in contrast to the three strands of the far coarser
Meshed carpets.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF PERSIA 321

Indigo and madder supply the chief of the imperish-
able dyes ; a deep orange-colour is produced from the
skins of grapes and pomegranates, and cochineal is also
used.

Sir George Birdwood ^ points out that carpets were
primarily ritualistic, and that the "trees of life," the con-
ventionalised animals, the " knop and flower " pattern,
and the various scrolls and chevrons to be seen in
the Persian carpet of to-day may all be traced back
to their remote origin in Mesopotamia, probably over
two thousand years before the Christian era.

As the carpets produced at Kerman and those woven
by the Tekk6 Turkomans are unrivalled for colour,
fineness of pile, and beauty of design, and as they are
totally dissimilar in appearance, a slight description of
their characteristics may be of interest.

The Kerman carpets are extremely fine in texture,
and it is said that the wool of which they are made
owes its special quality to the herbage on which the
sheep and goats feed, and that if the animals are
transported to other parts of Persia their fleeces
become coarser in fibre.

The designs on these carpets are very varied,
and the unorthodox Persian, whose artistic instincts
were too strong to suffer him to be bound by the
Mohammedan law to copy nothing living, adorns
his carpets with trees, flowers, animals, and birds,
often with most charming effect. For example, a large
Kerman rug may have the entire centre filled with a
Persian white rose-tree, the single blooms showing
clearly against a coffee-coloured ground. Parrots,

^ "Antiquity of Oriental Carpets" {Journal Society of Arts,
November 6, 1908).

322 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

hoopoes, and bulbuls perch among its branches, while
at its foot stand two cypresses, the trees of immor-
tality, near which are doves with bleeding hearts.
There are probably five borders, some narrow and some
broad, to this beautiful work, the broadest having a
cream ground on which a blue ribbon loops itself
in fantastic knots.

The Tekke Turkoman carpets are as finely woven as
are the Kerman, and their pile when old looks just like
velvet. In colouring, however, they are completely
different, the groundwork of every carpet being a
superb crimson which may in a few cases be a reddish
brown. The characteristic pattern is said to be a copy
of the bazuband or amulet case, which is fastened on
the forearm of true believers to avert the "evil eye,"
and within this are conventionalised camels' heads
stretching their long necks to nibble at trefoil, a
reminiscence of the nomad life of the weavers.
Another kind, woven by a different tribe, is distin-
guished by a broad cross, much ornamented with
indigo and creamy white, and supposed by some to
have been inspired by the Nestorian Church, once so
widely spread throughout Asia.

A new Turkoman carpet is not a pleasing object
to the European eye, its bright magentas and hard
whites making a crude combination that gives little
idea of the wonderful reds and creams that it will
change into with the course of years, provided that no
aniline dyes have been used. Nowadays old carpets
are much sought after and are hard to get, as there is a
great demand for them in the Constantinople bazaars,
and Persians sometimes try to make a carpet kheili
khadim^ or antique, by skilful doctoring. It is no

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS OF PERSIA 323

uncommon thing for a new carpet to be laid down in
the bazaar for men and animals to trample over it,
its owner affirming that this apparently drastic process
brings up the pile and enhances the colours. This once
done the carpet will last for a century, chairs not
being in use in Iran, and footgear being left at the
door of the room. Besides the ordinary carpets,
giltms or cotton carpets (z'.^., with no pile), are much
used in travelling, as they fold up easily ; and the
floor of a room is often covered with the hand
some nammads or felt carpets, very thick and heavy
and with coloured designs on the grey or buff
groundwork.

But everything must give way to the splendour of
the silk carpets, those most exquisite creations of the
loom, their colours gleaming like jewels in the sun-
light, and having a wonderful depth and richness.

It may interest the reader to know how to choose a
carpet. The dealer will spread out several before the
would-be buyer, who will immediately turn up a corner
of any one he may fancy in order to see whether the
pattern is as clear on the wrong side as on the right, a
sign of good weaving. He will next count how many
stitches go to the square inch. Aniline dyes are for-
bidden to be imported into Persia, but certain colours
may have a suspicious look, and the purchaser will
now wet his handkerchief and rub it hard on the carpet,
rejecting it if there is the faintest colour on the linen.
The next thing is to ascertain whether the kali lies
straight on the ground and is not kaj, or crooked ;
also whether it is stiff when folded over, as if otherwise
it is loosely woven. The edges ought to be examined
to see whether creases may not have been cut out of

324 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

them and the rents fine-drawn together ; and Persians
value a small pattern more highly than a large one,
because the former requires more skilful weaving.

As the inhabitants of Persia have been one of the
most artistic nations in the world for over two thousand
years, during which they influenced Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine art, and were the originators of that termed
Saracenic, it may be understood that it is impossible in
the limits of a single chapter to give more than the
merest glance at their art productions.

fMi

*^i:Mii*

A

CHAPTER XIX

PERSIAN SUPERSTITIONS AND THE ART OF
MEDICINE

THE ordinary Persian has such a profound belief in
ghouls, divs (demons), jinns, and afrits, that the
European who can persuade him to talk about his
superstitions will have the sense of being in the Middle
Ages. The ghoul is supposed to lurk in lonely places,
its aim being to lure travellers from their path and
devour them. It is a huge monster with blood-stained
jaws, but has the power of assuming any form it
pleases, often appearing as an animal, or even as a
human being, in order to deceive its intended victim.
The gloomy "Valley of the Angel of Death," not
far from Kum, is said to be haunted by these creatures,
and this is the kind of tale that Persians tell about
them : —

"Once upon a time" (so a public story-teller sur-
rounded by his audience will begin), " there lived a very
holy dervish, Niamatulla by name. So pious was he
that he spent most of his days at the shrine of the
thrice-blessed Fatima at Kum, and he was held in such
high esteem that when the m.ujtehid (high priest) of
the mcsque died, he was chosen by general acclaim to

326 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

succeed him, and his prayers and fasts were the marvel
of the whole city.

In fact so widely was the fame of his holiness spread,
that the Shah on his throne summoned the saint to
Tehran to ask his advice about some important matter
of state.

Now it may not be generally known by the Ferin-
ghis that there is a certain district between Kum and
the capital of Persia which is called the " Valley of the
Angel of Death." Even in these days it is not safe for
a man to traverse it alone ; but at that time no one
unaccompanied could brave its precipitous tracks, lead-
ing along terrific abysses, and hope to reach the end of
his journey alive.

Azrael, King of the Dead, dwells there, surrounded
by his court of ghouls, who, as all the world knows,
feed on corpses, and rejoice in wars and pestilences,
as such events bring them food in abundance. These
horrible creatures are for ever possessed with an
insatiable hunger, and as, moreover, they have the
power of turning into any shape they please, in order
to allure the unwary traveller to destruction, they are
not pleasant to meet upon a lonely road.

Now when the royal command arrived from the
Shah summoning the dervish Niamatulla to Tehran,
there was much rejoicing among the Faithful at the
honour paid to the imijtehid of Kum, and his disciples
wished to accompany him in a body to the capital.
What was their horror when the holy man announced
that he intended to travel alone ! " What are ghouls and
demons," said he, " to one who has made the pilgrim-
ages to Mecca, Kerbela, and Meshed, and has there
earned the titles oi Haji, Kerbelai^ and Meshedi? Do I

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 327

not carry amulets sufficient to daunt an army of ghouls,
and have I not enough suras of the Koran on the
tip of my tongue to confuse the subtlest intellect
among them ? "

His disciples were forced to admit that he was in
the right, and indeed all of you know that the Con-
fession of Faith repeated aloud can rout the hungriest
ghoul ; but few among you would care to put your re-
ligion to such a severe test.

However, Niamatulla was firm, and left the holy
city unaccompanied, turning his back on Fatima's
golden-domed shrine, as many of his weeping disciples
feared, for ever.

He had only just entered the " Valley of the Angel of
Death," when he perceived a camel limping towards him,
its halter trailing along the ground, and its sides
heaving as if from exhaustion. Of course he knew at
once that it must be a ghoul, and having looked to see
whether the amulet case which contains the sacred sheep's
eye from Mecca, together with that verse of the Koran
which has power over all demons, was in its usual place
on his forearm, he went forward confidently. As soon
as he was close to the animal, it knelt upon the ground,
as if begging the dervish to mount it ; but Niamatulla
guessed immediately that its purpose was to spring over
the precipice with him if he were so unwary as to get
upon its back. Therefore he stood still, and catching
the halter he remarked, looking into its eyes, " Mashal-
lah ! Hast thou never heard how the jackal dipped
itself in indigo, and thought it was the peacock ? "

By this proverb the ghoul knew that it was dis-
covered, and the camel vanished in a cloud of sulphur,
leaving the rope in the hand of the dervish.

328 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

The holy man continued his way rejoicing, but he
had not gone much further when he was met by a
traveller having such a remarkable likeness to his own
brother who dwelt at Tehran, that for a moment he
believed that the apparition must be his relative in
truth. However, as he exclaimed '' Alhamdolillah ! "
in his joy, he noted that the figure shuddered in every
limb and by this infallible sign he knew that he was
again confronted by the ghoul.

" Bismillah ! " he remarked, " dost thou not know that
only a Mazanderani dog can catch a Mazanderani fox ;
which is to say, that only he who has steeped his soul
in spiritual things can defeat the evil powers of the
spirit world ? " And for the second time the demon
vanished, and Niamatulla went forward praising Allah.

But suddenly a most awful creature stood right in
his path, vast and terrible, its jaws dripping with blood,
and the holy man perceived that the fiend was about
to try its power against him for yet a third time.

Of course Niamatulla had no fear of the demon,
though it was jet-black and had eyes which shot fire.
He was well aware that the mention of his name alone
would be enough to rout the ghoul utterly ; but the
mujtehid had a kindly heart. He knew that not many
of the Faithful were as well equipped as he to do battle
with the servants of Azrael, and he bethought himself
how he could destroy the fiend, and thus render the
path through that accursed valley safer in the future.
Of course all of you know that ghouls are not a
clever race, and indeed there are many tales to show
that a man, if he be quick-witted, may get the better
of these horrible monsters.

By the side of the track on which the ghoul ap-

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 329

peared to Niamatulla stood a gigantic plane-tree, and
the sight of its wide-spreading branches suggested to
the holy man how he could carry out his purpose.
Without evincing the least fear of the demon, he took
the halter and twisted one end round a sturdy bough
of the tree, leaving a hanging noose, the ghoul mean-
while watching him full of astonishment.

" Hast thou ever seen the foreigners play their
games of skill in the capital ? " Niamatulla then in-
quired of the demon, which became uneasy at the
mention of foreigners ; because all ghouls are powerless
in the presence of unbelievers, and are unable to harm
the least among the Feringhis.

The ghoul said that it had never been present when
the foreigners amused themselves in the great square
at Tehran, and the high priest then explained that one
of their games consisted in running at full speed and
endeavouring to thrust their heads into a noose which
dangled from a post. It was not such an easy feat as
it looked, he said, and he himself ran two or three times
towards the noose hanging from the plane-tree, but did
not appear to be able to thrust his head into the loop.

The ghoul looked on vastly amused, and when
Niamatulla stopped, apparently exhausted, it said,
" This seems, O stranger, quite an easy matter," and
rushing towards the noose it put its head into it. At
the same moment the holy man hauled with all his
might at the end of the halter, calling out, " In the
name of the Blessed Prophet, and in the name of the
twelve Imams, perish, accursed one, that darest to
molest the True Believers."

The ghoul was huge, and Niamatulla was a little
man ; but the mujtehid of Kum was great in faith,

330 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

and won the day in spite of tiie terrific yells and
struggles of the fiend.

The fame of the saint now spread throughout the
length and breadth of Persia, and crowds came to gaze
at the corpse of the strangled demon hanging from the
plane-tree. It is said that the King of Kings himself
travelled from Tehran for that purpose, and showed
Niamatulla great honour during his lifetime, and raised
a shrine to his memory when the saint at last joined
the Prophet in the regions of the Blessed. A chorus
of "-Shahbashr and '' Bal Ba!" and a shower of copper
coins will be the reward of a successful storyteller.

Ghouls are by no means confined to the " Valley of the
Angel of Death." Their special habitat is the graveyard,
and no Persian will cross a cemetery after sunset, even
if he have to make a considerable detour to avoid it.

They tell a story of how a man boasted to his friend
of his courage, and to prove this agreed to go to the
public cemetery after dark and hammer a big nail into
the ground in the very centre of the haunted spot. He
went on the appointed night and squatted down on his
heels to drive the nail well home ; but having done
so, he found himself unable to rise, and seized with fear
he yelled for help in his terror. His friend, who had
secretly followed him and had seen how in his haste he
had hammered the nail into the long skirt of his coat,
now appeared and released him with many a taunt at
his cowardice !

Persians say that a true believer who utters the name
of the Prophet in all sincerity can never be harmed by
a ghoul, yet no one cares to run the risk of wandering
among ruins, even in broad daylight, unless in company
with a European ; the idea being that evil spirits decline

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 331

to appear when Feringhis are present, because the latter
do not believe in such visitants.

Divs or demons, are supposed to be cat-headed
men with horns and hoofs and are peculiarly active at
night, no Persian caring to sleep alone lest these
malignant spirits should harm him during the hours
of darkness. On account of this rich men often hire
a priest to share their bedroom. For the same reason
no one will go into a dark room without exclaiming
Bismillah ! (In the name of God) to scare away
its possible ghostly occupant, and it would be sheer
madness to whistle at night, as such an act would be
an invitation to the demons to strangle the heedless
man. It is also impossible to eat any food cooked on
the previous day, as a devil may have overlooked it
during the darkness and thus rendered it poisonous.

Jinns and afrits are less dreaded than ghouls and
demons, but no one will kill dogs or cats in case these
animals are the dwelling-places of spirits that will
wreak vengeance on those who have deprived them of
their lodging. The public baths are said to be haunted
by jinns, and on account of this no man likes to be
alone in any of the numerous apartments, and no one
dares to throw hot water at any distance from a house,
but will pour it slowly and carefully near at hand or
in the garden, murmuring Bismillah! as he does so.
If the water be flung away carelessly it may fall on
a jinn, which will, not unnaturally, be enraged and
seek to exact retribution ; and for the same cause
it is most dangerous to fling stones. If a Persian
happens to be seized with an epileptic fit his ill-
ness is laid at the door of these spirits, who, so the
onlookers affirm, are beating the sufferer, probably on

332 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

account of some bit of carelessness such as we have
mentioned.

AH over Persia on the desert plains the wind blows
the dust up into columns, which spin round and round
with great swiftness, and these the Persians call jinns
or shaitans (devils), believing that if a mulla writes
his good deeds on a piece of paper and can throw it
into one of these whirls it will be transmuted into
gold.

Persians pay much attention to dreams, the taking of
fals or lots, charms, witchcraft, and so on, and there-
fore give considerable employment to astrologers. They
themselves consult the Fates by opening the Koran or
the poems of Hafiz at random or by means of the beads
of their rosaries, but will do nothing of importance
without calling in an astrologer. No journey can be
undertaken, no bargain closed, no house inhabited for
the first time, no city entered, or even medicine taken,
unless the omens are propitious. These astrologers and
some of the dervishes tell fortunes by spinning dice on
brass rods, and then consulting a book of divination to
see what the numbers portend, and they are also called
in to recover stolen property.

This was the mode of procedure in a case that came
under the writer's notice. A gold bangle having un-
accountably vanished, a servant boy who had been con-
victed of dishonesty on a previous occasion was, not
unnaturally, suspected of the theft. To make sure, a
dervish was called in, and the servants being summoned,
the holy man gazed fixedly at their faces as they stood
before him. He then wrote all their names on slips of
paper, rolling each slip into a little ball of dough, which
he threw into a basin of water, and he then exclaimed,

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 333

" The thief is in this room and the bracelet has not left
the house ! "

After reciting a certain passage of the Koran he
picked a dough ball out of the bowl without looking,
and it was found, when opened, to contain the name of
the boy. This ceremony having been performed three
times, and always with the same result, the culprit,
volubly protesting his innocence, was hurried off to the
prison, v/here he was immured in a dark and noisome
dungeon. He was put on scanty rations of bread and
water and suffered the bastinado, but nothing would
persuade him to confess, until a youth, his bosom-
friend, was sent to urge him to reveal the whereabouts
of the bracelet, promising him a free pardon if he
would do so.

" Remove the big water-jar that stands in the corner
of the courtyard of my master's house," said the thief,
" and under it you will find a new brick which is quite
loose, and if you pull this up you will see the bangle."

The youth hurried to the house, where the directions
of the thief were followed, and when the bracelet was
recovered the fame of the dervish resounded throughout
the city.

Persians believe firmly in lucky and unlucky days.
For example, the thirteenth of the month of Saffar is
a day of evil omen, and all men and women leave their
houses and spend the hours between sunrise and sunset
in the open air in order to avert the harm that would
probably overtake them were they to stay indoors.
Therefore the scene outside the walls of a Persian
town is one of unusual animation — horsemen galloping
wildly about the plain, men shooting at a mark often
placed in perilous proximity to the public highway, and

334 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

the women repairing to gardens to indulge in swinging,
it being wajib or lucky, to do so on this day.

The peasants engage in the unusual dissipation of
games, of which tip-cat and a kind of rounders appear
to be the favourites, middle-aged men playing these
with enthusiasm, and every one is careful not to give
way to anger, as a quarrel is sure to lead to disaster.

The Day of Judgment is supposed to take place on
the last Wednesday in Saffar, consequently all Wed-
nesdays are unlucky days, and the whole month is of
evil omen, probably from the fact that Mohammed died
during its course. Thirteen is an unlucky number in
Persia, and no educated Persian can give any reason
for this ; but the writer has been informed that the
thirteenth of every month was a day of ill-omen with
the ancient Parsis, from whom probably the Persians
derive the superstition.

To an ordinary Persian the good or bad fortune of a
day depends upon the first face that he has seen after
waking, and the well-to-do are always particular to have
a servant with a "lucky" face near them when they
open their eyes in the morning. Such people as public
executioners and their children are said to have " black
hearts " and consequently " unlucky " visages ; and in
the writer's own experience everything that went wrong
in the house was put down to an unfortunate servant,
son of one of these ill-omened officials.

When seeing the new moon for the first time Persians
are careful to look at a " fortunate " face or at a " lucky "
object, such as gold or silver, which they hold in readi-
ness in their hands, but woe to the man whose glance
falls accidentally on a veiled woman or on a dog !

On going on a journey it is well to leave the house

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 335

with the face turned towards the door in order to ensure
a safe return ; it is unlucky to send a letter unless a
corner be cut off, and the edges must be clipped, as
otherwise a man's wives may be untrue to him ; disaster
may occur if a man commence walking with the left
foot or if a gazelle pass on the left of a rider, and it is
unwise to finish any building or large piece of embroidery
completely lest death overtake the worker. On the
other hand, it is lucky to be the first to enter a new
building, and the Shah has been known to give an
audience on some important matter in a freshly erected
pavilion in order that the business on hand might pro-
gress satisfactorily.

It is also a usual custom to slay a goat in order to
ensure prosperity to any personage who enters a town.
On the approach of the traveller the animal is killed iti
the middle of the road and its head is then placed on
one side and its body on the other, the man thus
honoured riding between the severed parts of the goat
and across its blood ; sweetmeats are often thrown
under the hoofs of the traveller's horse for the same
purpose.

All Persian women starting on a journey give money
to the beggars to avert accident, and on one occasion
when the writer's horse shied and was within an ace of
precipitating her into the city-moat, she was assured by
a Persian gentleman that the incident was entirely
owing to her lack of charity as she left her home !

Travellers are sped on their way by being shown
a mirror, or offered a glass of water on which floats the
head of a flower, or perhaps the smoke of burning
herbs is waved before them. To sneeze once when
starting on any expedition is an evil omen, and Persians

336 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

will look fixedly at the sun in order to induce a second
or third sneeze. If they are unsuccessful they will put
off their journey, as they have little faith in an invo-
cation to Allah, which is supposed to be efficacious in
averting disaster. Curiously enough, they also believe
that if they are desiring anything ardently, and some
one should happen to sneeze at the moment, their
wish is certain to be granted. It is wise to suppress
yawning as much as possible, for the Prophet said
that when any one opened his mouth in a yawn the
devil smiled !

It is unlucky to name a horse after a Persian, because
any evil that may befall the animal will also overtake
the man after whom it is called. If, however, an
accident happens to a horse and the rider escapes un-
scathed, the spectators say, " The horse has become a
sacrifice," meaning that the injury meant for the rider
has fallen on his steed.

Throughout Persia there is a very strong belief in
the "evil eye," and every European on entering the
country is warned not to admire children or animals
without uttering the word Mashallah to avert this
malign influence. If he omit the precaution and
harm follows," the entire blame of the sickness or
accident to human being or horse will be laid at the
door of the forgetful foreigner, and many Persians will
refuse to mention the exact number of their children or
possessions on this account.

Blue is the colour to ward off the "evil eye," and
every one who can afford it wears a turquoise ring ;
the children are adorned with turquoises or blue beads,
the latter being attached to the tails or harness of all
horses, mules, camels, and donkeys in order to safe-

PERSIAN BARBER EXTRACTING TEETH

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 337

guard them. Turquoises are also supposed to save
their wearers from being cheated in business ; but as
every merchant carries one in a ring the effect must be
considerably neutralised.

Medicine in Persia must be classed under the head
of superstitions, as it is absolutely unscientific and
dependent upon astrology and charms. All diseases are
divided into hot and cold, and are treated by contraries.
For example, a man attacked with a burning fever will
probably be carried out of the house in the depth of
winter and laid in the stream of ice-cold water running
through the garden, because the Prophet said that fever
was hell-fire and must be extinguished by means of
water. Cholera is treated in the same way, but the
Persian doctor, however, invariably refuses to give
water to his patients to drink, let their craving for
it be ever so intense. He often administers the powder
of rubies or emeralds as a tonic, and a ground-up
pearl is occasionally resorted to when the patient is
believed to be at the point of death. If any one
is badly burnt the wounds will be smeared with soot
from the bottom of the cooking vessels, and pome-
granate juice will be taken internally. A remedy for
pneumonia is to wrap the sick person up in a raw
hide, sore eyes being cured by an application of
powdered glass !

If witchcraft is suspected, one method is to bake
eggs on the hearthstone of the patient's room, calling
each by the name of some possible enemy. The egg
that cracks first reveals the name of the wizard, and in
order to free the sick man from his power the egg must
be thrown into running water. Another plan is for
the wife of the patient to beg bits of bread from the

338 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

whole circle of his acquaintance, as if he can eat the
food of the man who has bewitched him he will be
cured.

The following case of a kind of faith-cure came
under the notice of an English doctor.

A Persian lady of rank was afflicted with violent
convulsions, which, as they did not yield to medical
treatment, were put down to the work of a demon.
Accordingly, a sartip, or colonel, who had a great
reputation as an exorcist, was summoned to her aid.
The procedure adopted was to light dozens of little
lamps and place them all round the divan on which the
patient lay, and the sartip then asked her again and
again what she saw, but the answer was always the
same, " Nothing but lamps."

At last in despair he summoned an old woman whom
he had cured of a like complaint, and she, on being
adjured, immediately declared that she saw a devil.
" Tell him to depart," said the colonel. " He says that
in flying past this house he saw this lady and loved her
so much for her beauty that he will never leave her,"
was the answer of the hag. The sartip^ summoning all
his power, conjured the fiend to release his victim ; but
the demon replied, according to the old woman, that he
found his prey too much to his taste to desert her, and
that the lady had " made roast meat of his heart." The
sartip at this had reached the limit of his patience,
and exclaimed in anger, " Then tell the demon that if
he doesn't go at once, I will turn him into a Mohamme-
dan." This dire threat caused the evil spirit to fly
away in haste; but in spite of the colonel's victory
his patient steadily became worse instead of better, and
when my informant was summoned as a last resource,

SUPERSTITIONS AND ART OF MEDICINE 339

he found the lady so exhausted that heroic remedies
were needed to save her life.

Persians say that it is a good thing to get influenza,
but that if the complaint attacks the head it turns
the hair white, and they also affirm that those who
have never been victims to mesh mesh as they call
it, get grey very early in life.

Faith-cures are not uncommon. Dervishes pretend
to write powerful charms on scraps of paper, which
when swallowed in a believing spirit effect a cure,
and the chief stock-in-trade of a Persian doctor is
a brass bowl the outside of which is elaborately incised
with the signs of the Zodiac and texts from the Koran.
The inner surface is engraved with short prayers to suit
all diseases, and the doctor has merely to make a feint
of unlocking with a key the prayer that alludes to his
patient's complaint, and when the sick man has drunk
the water with which the basin is filled he will speedily
recover. An instance of this sort of cure is reported
by an English lady-doctor, who was asked for a token
by which her patient would be admitted to her pres-
ence. For lack of anything better she gave a safety-pin,
and was somewhat surprised that the sufferer did not
make her appearance at the appointed time. Some
days afterwards she appeared, beaming with joy, and
exclaiming as she held out the safety-pin, " Salaams !
may the shadow of the gracious Khanum never grow
less ! I placed the powerful Feringhi charm in a
bowl full of water, and after drinking the liquid for
seven days I was completely cured. Alhamdulillah ! "
And, full of gratitude, she restored the pin to her
bewildered preserver !

As might be expected from what has gone before,

340 PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

lunatics meet with no mercy in Persia. These unfor-
tunates are put in the stocks, and their hands fastened
with chains to the wall above their heads ; they are
alternately beaten and starved, with the laudable inten-
tion of driving the devil out of them ; they are dowsed
with a decoction of herbs poured over them when
violently roused from their slumbers by the yells of
their misguided friends ; and they are confined in
horrible dungeons.

But enough has been said to give the reader some
idea of the extraordinary network of superstition that
encloses a Persian from the cradle to the grave, and
from which only progress and the spread of education
can free him.

That these benefits may come to Persia, and that
she may have her full share in what seems to be an
awakening of the East, is the earnest hope of one
who sympathises deeply with her and her people.

May the perusal of this book add some of its readers
to the ranks of those who wish well to Iran !

She has existed as a kingdom for some twenty-five
centuries, and in the past her record has been glorious.
So many of her sons have been famous that to-day
it ought not to be impossible to find amongst their
descendants one who will exhibit the statesmanship
and patriotism of an Ardeshir, an Ismail, or a Shah
Abbas, and lead his country to prosperity.

Khoshbakht baa Iran !
(Good luck to Iran !)

INDEX

x\badeh, 71

Abbas, Shah, 7, 31, 40, 59, 96,
109, 112, 113, 128, 154, 173,228,
260, 271, 317, 318 ; sword of, 169

Abbas, 100

Abdul Azhn, Shah, shrine of, 165

Abdullah, 152, 154

Abraham, 73, 136

Abu All ibn Sina (Avicenna), 29,
300, 302

Achasmenian kings, the, 7, 13, 16,
19, 39, 40, SO, 273

Acre, 142, 262

Afghan invasion of Persia, 31,, 32,
40, S3, 99-100 ; the Amir, ill

Afrasiyab, king of Tartary, 290, 294

Agha Mohammed Khan, 32, 33,
40, 48, 184

Ahasuerus, 39

Ahwaz, 153, 234-6

Akbar, servant, 166, 168, 178, 179,
185, 187

Al Mukanna, story of, 1 39-40

Al Tabari, historian, 242

Alamut, 43, 44, 45

Albigenses, the, 22

Albuquerque, 228

Alhambra, the, 317

Aleppo, 305

Alexander the Great, 16, 21, 40,
124 192, 227, 274 ; death of, 17 ;
camp of, destroyed, 193; sarcoph-
agus of, 238 I legends of, 266-7 5
his place in Persian history, 299

Ali, 30-31, 73, 80, 95, 108, 113,
129, 134 ; tomb of, 96 ; death of,
146 ; and Fatima, 145-6

Ali Akbar, 154

Almsgiving, Mohammedan, 131,
134, 136

Alp Arslan, 29, 300

American missionaries, 1 38

Amrou, 146

Andaman Islands, the, 269

Andet-oon, the, 35, 54-6, 197,
202

Animals, Persian, treatment or,
84-5; fodder, 215; wild ani-
mals, 238-44; domestic animals,
244-8

Antichrist, Moslem belief regarding,
134

Antony, Mark, 19

Anwari, fame of, 304

Arab tribes of the Persian Gulf, 5,
1 1 ; characteristics, 234 ; encamp-
ments, 234; the Arab horse, 235-6

Arabian Sea, 225 ; vegetation, 5

Arabic language, the, 61, 64, 73, 74

Arabistan, 5, 233, 237

Araxes, the, 128

Arbela, 16

Abre Sol, the, of Khorasan, 266

Architecture, Persian, 315-16

Ardebil, 31

Ardeshir, King, 21, 109, 124, 264,
299

Area of Persia, i

342

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Armenia, conquest of, iS, 19, 21

Armenians, 128-9, 13^

Army, the Persian soldier, 60-1

Arnold, Matthew, " Sohrab and
Rustum," 249, 297

Arsaces I., 18

Art, Persian, 316-19, 272-3 ; Sara-
cenic, 28, 324

Artabanus, 20, 21

Artaxerxes, Longimanus, 39 ; palace
of, 316

Artaxerxes III., 15-16

Artemisium, 15

Aryans, the, 1 1

Asia Minor, conquest by Cyrus, 13-
14

Askhabad, 88, 89, 90, 1 1 1

Assassins, the 44-5

Asses, Persian, 247

Assyria, 14

Astrabad, 32, 42

Astrology, 332

Astyages, 13

Athens, burning of, 15

Attar of Roses, 184

Aurora, the, 177

Aurungzebe, 53

Austria, relations with Persia, 35, 61

Austrian Tyrol, the, 107

Avesta, the, 21, 124, 125, 284

Avicenna. See Abu Ali ibn Sina

Ayesha, 145, 146, 201

Azerbaijan, 5, 14, 40, 123

Basis sect, the, 36, 140-3

Babylon, 14, 17, 40, 273

Bactria, 13, 17 ; Tartar invasion,

124
Badakshan, 269
Badgirs, 180, 237
Bad-i-Sud-i-bist-ruz, the, 6
Baghdad, the Khalifate at, 28, 29,

30, 40, 227, 262, 305 ; sack of,

310

Bahram V. (Bahram Gor), 23, 238 ;
legends of, 243

Bahram Chubin, 25

Bahramabad, 182-3

Bahrein, 229-32 ; necropolis at, 227

Bakhtiari, the, 5, 32, 34, 37, 38, 87

Baku, 41, 88, 89

Balkh, 124, 262, 263, 267

Balsora. See Busreh

Baluchistan, 5, 7, 8 ; inhabitants of,
5, 188-9 ; heat of, 185 ; annex-
ation of, 187 ; cairns, 189-90; the
horse in, 191 ; the peasant of,
210 ; British, 10 ; Persian, 188

Bam, 33, 187

Bampur, 192

Bampur river, the, 190

Bandar Abbas, 228, 230, 266

Bandar Nasseri, 234

Bandeh, the, 66

Bastinado, the, 84, 196

Bathing, 72-3

Batoum, 41, 88

Battle of the Camel, 146

Bay an, the, 142

Bazaars, 73, 88, 100, 161

Baziiband, the, 322

Beha, 142-3

Belgians in Meshed, 91

Belisarius, General, 23

Benjamin, Mr. S. G. W., "Persia
and the Persians " cited^ 152-3,
319

Bent, Mr. Theodore, 232

Bird life Persia, 248-53

Birdwood, George, " The Antiquity
of Oriental Carpets," 222-3, 321

Birootti, 197, 204

Bisitun, bas-reliefs, 274-5, 3^5

Bisitun, rock of, 25

Blandford, Dr., 3

Blizzards, 174

Blocqueville, M. de, 1 10
3, wild, 240-1

INDEX

343

Bokhara, 29, 109, 261, 310; Mongol
invasion, 30

Bokhariotes, 100

Bombay, 10 ; the Victoria Gardens,
222-3

Boussa, the, 9

Bread, 212-13

Bridge of Sirat, 77

Browne, Piof. E. G., "Literary
History of Persia," cited, 43 note,
284, 286, 306 ; "A Year Amongst
the Persians," cited, 140, 141, 214,
311

Buddhist beliefs, 122, 123, 132

Buggelows, 228

Bulbuls, 220, 252

Burial customs, Persian, 76-8,
120-1 ; ZorDastrian custom of
exposure, 125-6, 180-1, 273 ;
burial of woraen, 207-8 ;

Burma, 269

Bushire, 2, 10, 35, 230, 232-3, 254

Busreh, 227-8, 262

C/ESAR, Julius, 18

Cairns in Baluchistan, 189-90

Calendar, reform of the, 301

Camadi (Shahr-i-Jiruft), 265, 269

Cambyses, 14, 273

Camels, 185, 245-6; the "Cam-
elry," 191

" Caravan of the Dead," 120-1, 207

Caravaning, 162

Carpets, Persian, 104 1 Kerman,
184, 321 ; centres, 320 ; the hand
loom, 320; designs, 321 ; Tekke
Turkoman, 321-2 ; faking the
antique, 322-3 ; silk carpets, 323 ;
how to choose a carpet, 323-4

Carrhse, battle of, 18-19

Carriages, 162

Caspian, the, climate, 2-5 ; fisheries,

10; Russian influence, 34
Cassius, 20

Cats, Persian, 248
Caucasus, the, 34
Cemeteries, superstitions regarding,

330-1
Centipedes, 255-6
Ceylon, 269

Chadars, 199, 200, 202, 206
Chang Ki'en, 268
Chapar-khanas, 162, 173, l8l
Chardin, " Voyages en Perse,"

cited, 31, 40, 109, 260
Chargat, the, 198
Charvadars, 120-1, 164, 183, 185
Chedorlaomer, King, 237
Chilau kabob, the, 71
Chilaus, 70

Children carpet-makers, 320
China, 269 ; Christianity in, 128 ;

early trade of, 262 ; Chinese art

in Persia, 318
Chinghiz lOian, 28-30, 1 16, 261, 304
Chinvad, bridge of, 126
Christianity in Persia, 25, 127, 128
City of Martyrdom, 49
Civil War of B.C. 323, 17
Climate of Persia, 2-5
Coal, scarcity of, 9
Cochin China, 269
Cockroaches, 225
Coin, Persian, 163-4
Colleges, military, 35
Cologne Cathedral, tomb of the

" Three Kings," 263
Confucius, 122
Conolly, 261
Constantinople, Persian invasion,

26 ; bazaars, lOO ; museum of, 238
Constitution, the Persian, 36-8, 50
Corruption, system of, 58-9
Court, the Persian, description, 50 ;

etiquette of, 51 ; ministers, 58 ;

the system of corruption, 58-9 ;

personal nature of the Govern-
ment, 59

344

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Cracow, 89

Crassus, 18-19

Crime and punishment, 84

Crimea, the, 38

Croesus, King of Lydia, 14

Cromer, Lord, 10- 11

Crops, Persian, 212-15

Crows, 252-3

Crusaders, the, 43, 132, 305

Ctesiphon, Arch of, 40, 315

Ctesiphon on the Tigris, 19, 24, 40

Cuneiform inscriptions, 271 ; the
key to, 275

Curzon, Lord, " Persia," cited, 5, 53,
61, 141, 238, 270, 272, 274, 275.

Customs, Persian — Buying and
selling, 47-8; dress, 56, 65-6,
198-200, 200-1 ; servants, 67-8,
82-3 ; slaves, 68-9 ; prayer, 69-
70, 73 ; a well-to-do Persian's day,
69-72 ; eating, 70-2 ; dyeing the
hair, 72-3 ; the baths, 72-3 ;
marriage, 74-6, 201-6 ; the
Persian oath, 81-2 ; criminal
punishment, 84; treatment of
animals, 84-5 ; the poor of
Persia, 103 ; dress, 198-200, 218 ;
divorce, 204-5 5 uncleanliness,
217-18; death and burial. See
Burial customs
Cyriades, enthronement of, 275, 276

Cyrus the Great, 2, 13-14, 16, 17,
39, 237, 273, 274

Dakmehs, 180, 185

Damietta Stone, the, 275

Daniel, Book of, 236

Daniel, tomb of, 237

Daqiqi, poet, 285

Darius I., 14-15, 39, 299; Persepolis,
271-3 ; the cuneiform writings,
275 ; palace of, at Susa, 316

Darius II. , 299

Darius III., 16

Darwin, cited, 254

Darya-i-Nur, the, 52

Date-palms, 190, 213

Day of Judgment, the Mohammedan
134-S

Days of omen, 333-4

Decoration, Persian, 315-17

Deforestation, 9, 184, 236,262

Deioces, palace of, 39

Delhi, 32 ; siege of, 52, 53

Dellals, 47

Demavend, volcano, 2, 45, 171, 253,
289

Demons, 291-3, 331

Dervishes, 101-2, 150-I,

Deserts, salt, 6-7

Dieulafoy, M., cited, 237, 316

Dieulafoy, Mme, 237

Dishes, Persian, 70-2, 213

Distance, measurement of, 167

Div-i-SaJid, the White Demon, 292

"Divine Right," 272

Divorce, Persian, 126, 204-5

Diz, the, 238

Dizful, 236

Dogs, pariah, loi, 247-8; Zoro-
astrian reverence for, 125

Doghela bazi, 280

Doshan Tepe, palace of, 56

Dove, the, 252

Dreams, superstitions conceming,332

Dress, the Persian woman's, 56,
198-200 ; the boy's, 65 ; the Per-
sian man's, 65-6 ; origin of the
veil, 200-1

Dryden, quoted, 272

Durand, Sir Edward, 232

Durand, Sir Mortimer, "Nadir

Shah," 216
Dust-storms, 18 1-2
Dyes, Persian, 321

East India Company, 228
Eastwick, Mr., cited, 94, 1 10, 131

INDEX

345

" Eating Sticks," 84, 196

Ecbatana, 39

Education, in Persia, 61 ; the Per-
sian youth, 64 ; the Persian girl,
197 ; village schools, 218-19

Eed-i-Kurban, feast of, 136

Egypt, 14, 15

Elam (Arabistan), 5, 233, 237

Elburz mountains, the, 2-3, 42-5,
171, 287, 289

Elizabeth, Queen, 31

El-Kadinyyah, battle of, 27

English influence in Persia — Tele-
graph service, 9-10 ; relations with
Nasr-ed-Din Shah, 35; the agree-
ment of 1907, 38 ; English
appearance of Resht, 41-2 ; the
Legation, Tehran, 49, 57 ; Atti-
tude towards the slave trade, 69 ;
the Consulate, Meshed, 91 ;
missionaries, 138; the English
personality, 194-5 ? the Residency,
Maskat, 226 ; policing the Gulf,
229-30

Enzeli, port of, 9, 41, 248

Ephesus, Council of, 127

Erivan, 41

Erythras, King, 227

Erzeroum, 41

Esther and Mordecai, tombs of, 39

Esther, Book of, 316

Euphrates, the, 18, 149, 233

Europe, Persian designs on, 16

"Evil Eye," the, 63, 336

Fables, Persian, 308
Fahraj, 192, 193
" False dawn," the, 186-7
Fao, 233

Fars (Pars), province of, i , 309
Farsakh, term, 167
Fasting, Moslem, 133-4, 21 1
Fath Ali Shah, 33-4, 48, 49, 51,53,
96, 172, 258

Fatiha, the, 70

Fatima, daughter of the Prophet, 169

Fatima, shrine at Kum, 154, 1 69,
205, 325, 327

Ferhad, story of, 25'

Feridun, 27, 288-9, 299

Feringhis, 80, 81 ; Persian super-
stition regarding, 329, 331

Ferrier, cited, no

Festivals, Moslem, 136-7

Fin, garden of, 172

Firdawsi, poet, the "Book of
Kings," 29, 109 ; daughter of,
98; fame of, 116, 304; tomb at
Tus, 1 17-18; the Shahnama,
284, 285-6 ; events related in the
poem, 287-99

Fire-worship. See Zoroastrianism

Firuza, the, 1 18-19

Fisenjan, the, 71

Fitch, Ralph, 228

Flora of Persia, 257-9; Persian
love of flowers, 222-3

Floyer, M., " Unexplored Baluchi-
stan," 190

Fourgeons, 89

Foxes, 241-2

Eraser, " A Journey into Khorasan,"
cited, 93, no, 117, 132, 169, 230

French excavations at Susa, 237

Friday, observation of, 73-4

Fruit, Persian, 258-9

Gabrs, 122, 125, 127, 179

Gadir, festival of, III

Gadir Khom, village of, 145

Games, Persian, 280-3

Ganges, the, 16

Gardens, Persian, 219-23 ; English,

at Tehran, 259
Gathas, the, 21, 124
Gazelle-shooting, 243, 277
Geneses, Book of, 237
GeokTepe, 88, 1 10

346

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Georgia, 32

Ghazna, 300

Ghaznawi period of Persian litera-
ture, 3CX)

Gkolams, 57

Ghouls, 171

Gilan, 42

Giltm, 166

Goa, 228

Gobi, the, 266

Gobineau, Count, died, 153-4

Gohar Shad, 93

Golden age of Persia, 7, 31, 96

Golf at Meshed, 108

Gombrun (Bandar Abbas), 228

Gothic architecture, characteristics,
112

Government, personal nature of
the, 59

Great cold, the, 163

Greeks, 128 ; victory at Marathon,
15 ; massacre by the Macedonians,
17

Gulahek, 57

Gushtasp, King, 123

Gwadur, 185, 193, 194, 226

Hafiz (Shemseddin Mohammed)
— account of, 309-10 ; lines, quoted,
310-13; grave of, 311-12, 312-
14; character of, 312-13; fame
of, 332 ; mentioned, 79, 140, 157,
216, 223, 306

Hailstorms, 3, 214-15

Haj, feast of, 136

Haji Ibrahim, 32, 33

Haji, title, 136, 137, 206, 326

Hamadan, 39 ; white wines of, 216

Hamun, the, 6, 249

Hannibal, 19

Hasan, 146-7

" Hasan ! Husein ! " cry of, 144

Hasan-i-Sabbah, 43-4

Hasan kuli khan, 263

" Hashish,'^ 44, 67

Harun al Raschid, 28, 95

Hawking, 277-9

Helmand river, the, 6

Henna, use of, 57, 73

Heraclius, Emperor, 26

Herat, 29, 35, ill, 267

Herodotus, 64, 268

' ' Highway of the Nations," 262

Hindoos, 231

Holdich, Sir Thomas, "The Indian

Borderland," quoted, 191
Holy Family, the, Mohammedan

representations, 319
Hoopoe, the crested, 251
Hormuz, island of, 228, 230, 263 ;

ancient trade of, 262, 265
Hormuzd, King, story of, 308
Horse, the, in Baluchistan, 191
Horses, arab, 235-6, 244 ; Persian,

244-S

Horse-riding, Persian method, 280

Houris, 78

House, the Persian, 197-8

Hulagu Khan, 30, 45, 262, 304,
310

Husein, 80, 96, 129 ; death of, 144,
147-8, 149, 151, 168 ; commemo-
rations, resume. oiz.tazieh, 154-6.
See also Muharram

Hyrcania, 239

Hystaspes, 271-3

Ibex, the, 243

Idol-worship, 20, 21, 124, 129

Ilyat tribe, the, il, 34

Infant mortality, 218

Imam Juma, the, of Meshed, 131-2

Imam Reza, the — Legend of, 49,
95, 169 ; mosque and shrine of —
description,90-5, 1 1 6-1 7 ; history,
96-7, 113; the graveyard, 97-8;
the Caravan of the Dead, 120-1 ;
women pilgrims, 206-8

INDEX

347

Imams, the, 145

Imperial Bank of Persia, 35, 48

Imports and exports, 10

India — Telegraph communication
with Persia, 10, 35 ; conquest of
Alexander, 16 ; Persian conquest,
16, 32 ; postal service with Me
shed. III; the Parsis, 122;
Christianity in, 128; early trade
of, 262 ; Marco Polo in, 269

Indian archipelago, the, 269

Indians, Mohammedan, character-
istics, 83-4

Indo-European Telegraph Com-
pany, 35, 226

Indus, the, 15, 17, 18, 227

Insect life, 255-7

Iran, ancient name of Persia, i ;
history of, 13-38

Irani, the, appearance, 11-12

Irrigation in Persia, 212, 214

Isaiah, 14

Isfahan, 3, 31, 37, 40, 45, 128, 138,
141, 180, 300; the people of, 86,
176 ; Mosque of, 88 ; bygone
splendour of, 161 ; caravaning
to, 173-5 ; work of Shah Abbas
in, 175

Isfundiar, 124

Ishmael, 136

Islamism in Persia — Question of the
Prophet's successor, 30, 80 ; obser-
vance of Friday, 73-4 ; the name
of God, 79-80 ; Moslem intoler-
ance, 80, 81 ; teachings of, 129-
37, 308 ; effect on the individual,
137; perverts from, 138; other
teachers, 1 39-43 ; the woman's
position, 208-9

Ismail Shah, 31, 140

Ismaili sect, the, 43-5

Issus, battle at, 16

Istakr, 273

Italian influence in Persian Art, 319

Jackals, 242-3

Jackson, Prof.Williams,"Zoroaster, "
122-3

Jagherk, 107-8

Jalk, 192

James I., 31

Jamshid, King, 274, 287, 288, 299

Japan, 269

Jask, 226, 228

Java, 269

Jay, the blue, 250-I

Jerusalem, siege of, 25

Jewels, royal, 52-3

Jews — ^Colony in Hamadan, 39 ;
the Jews of Tehran, 54 ; trans-
ported into Isfahan, 128-9; ^^^.y
of Atonement, 136

/ika, the, 52

/inns, 171, 177, 181, 190, 248,
270, 331-2

Jzra, 163

Julfa, 128, 138

JuHan, Emperor, 22

Jupa range, the, 186

Justice, administration of, 61-2

Kaaba, the, Mecca, 70, 73, 136-7

Kabobs, 70, 71

Kabul, King of, 298

Kabutarkhan, 183

Kafilas, 178, 181, 183

Kafirs, 80, 81, 129

Kak, 215

Kahrisek, 165

Kai Kaus, King, 291-2, 294, 299

Kaiani dynasty, the, 298

Kaianian Maliks, the, 192

Kaiumers, King, 287

Kajar tribe, the, 32, 33

Kajaveh, 206

Kakha, 90

Kalats, 319-20 (

Kalians, 67, 76, 79, 151

Kalma, the, 93

348

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Kanats, 103, 104, 106, 221, 279

Karachi, 10, 194, 225

Karnak, Hall of, Egypt, 272

Karun, the, 9, 22, 35, 153, 224, 233

Kashaf Rud, the, 106-7, 116

Kashan, 6, 10, 86, 171, 173, 263,
269 ; the minar, 88 ; scorpions of,
1 7 1-2; the Garden of Fin, 172 ;
tiles of, 317 ; velvets of, 319

Kashgar, 305

Kashi^ 171

Kasim, 154

Kasr-i-Kajar, 57

Kasvin, 43, 44, 45

Kavah, leather apron of, 27, 289

JCavir, the, 7, 168

Kazerun, 275

Kedkhoda, the, 62

Kerbela, 96, 147, 149, 152, 156 ;
pilgrims to, 206, 225

Kerbelai, title, 206, 326

Kerim KLhan, 32

Kerman, 7, 21, 33, 138, 181, 182,
263; cost of living at, 8; shawls,
54> 65, 319-20; Gabrs, 122;
the approach to, 183-4 '■• the
modern town, 184; Zoroastrians
of, 185 ; the Desert, 186 ; trade
of, 262 ; Marco Polo's visit,
264-5 ; Venetian routes, 269 ;
carpets, 320-2

Kermanshah, 274 ; carpets, 320

Khaka, 116

Khalifate, the, 30, 40, 145, 148

Khanum Mariam, the, 138

Khanikoff, M., cited, 266

Khans, 91

Khiva, 109

Khorasan, province of, 6, li, 17,
32, 88, no, 293, 300

Khosru I., 23-4, 40, 242

Khosru Parvis, 24-7, 109, 276

Khutbah, the, 73

Khuzistan, lions of, 238

Killing animals, formula used, 279

' ' King of Kings , " the title , 1 9 , 40, 50

Kipling, Rudyard, "The Feet of
the Young Men," quoted, 195

Kishm, 230

Kismet, 131, 218

Kizil Kum, the, 266

Kobad, 23

Kohrud river, 173

Kohrud, village of, 173

Kokachin, Princess, 267-8

Kolah Feringhi, 221

Koran, the, 61, 64, 73, 135

Kotals, 2, 232, 233, 270

Koweit, 229

Krasnovodsk, 88, 89

Kublai Khan, 261, 262; court of,
267

Kuchan, 89

Kufa, Mosque of, 146 ; death ot
Husein, 147

Kuh-i-Basman, volcano of, 188

Kuh-i-Nur, the, 52-3

Kuh-i-Sangi, 108

Kum, 6, 165, 269, 317, 325 ; the
gold-domed shrine, 88, 205 ; the
road to, 168 ; tomb of Fatima,
169 ; pilgrimages to, 169

Kurdish tribes, the, 37, loo

Kurratu 'l-'Ayn, poetess, 141-2

Kuzehs, 103

Kwajah Rabi, shrine of, 1 12-13

Ladgusht, 192
Lagoon, the, 6
Language, the Persian, 1 1
Lar river, the, 253
Laristan, 5

Law, the Persian, 61-2
Legations, the, Tehran, 49
Lent, 144
Leonidas, 15

" Lion and the Sun," emblem of
the, I, 48, 90

INDEX

349

Lions, 238-9

Literature, Persian, 284-314

London, route to Meshed from, 88-90

Louvre Museum, the, 237

Lur tribe, the, 34

Luristan, 5

Lustre ware, 317-18

Lut, the, 6-8, 185, 188, 266

Luft, Ali Khan, 32-3, 188

Lutis, 128, 239, 281

Lynch and Hotz, Messrs., 234

Macedonians, the, 17
Macrinus, Emperor, 20
Madrid Museum, example of lustre

ware, 318
Magi, the, 21, 123, 263
Mahdi, 141 ; return of the, 134
Mahmud of Ghazna, Sultan, 285-

6, 300
Mahun, village of, 186-7, 265
Majlis, the, 36, 138-9
Makran, S.-Qi) 227, 269
Malamir, the, 233
Malan range, the, 227
Malaria, 6, 42
Malcolm, Mr. "Five Years in a

Persian Town," cited, 82, 83
Malcolm, Sir, John " Persian

Sketches," cited, 51, 172, 258
Malik Shah, 29, 300, 301
Mamum, Khalif, 95
Man, the Persian — Position, 63-4,

dress, 65-6 ; his ascendancy over

the woman, 79 ; personality, 79-

80 ; religious behefs, 80-1 ;

characteristics — veracity, 81-3 ;

ingratitude, 83-4 ; patriotism,

85-7
Mani, 22

Manicheeans, the, 22
Marathon, victory of, 15
Markham, Sir Clements, *' History

of Persia," cited^ 26

Marriage customs, 74~6> 201-6

Marseilles, 41

Maskat, 226, 228, 230 ; treaty with
Britain, 227

Mashkel river, 193

Mausoleums, mud-built, 192

Mazanderan, province of, 141, 258,
287, 291, 292

Mecca, 26, 63, 70, 73, 136, 145 ;
the road to, 136-7 ; pilgrimages,
206, 305

Medes, the, 39 ; history, 13

Medicine, the art of, 325, 337-40

Medina, 145

Alehalas, 228

Meh'rab, the, 73

Meidan-i-Mashk, the, Tehran, 48

Meidan-i-Shah, Tehran, 49

Mehmankhana, 166

Merv, 28, 29, 139, 301

Mervdasht, plain of, 270

Meshed, 32,40,49,81,86, 240,267;
cost of living in, 8 ; route from
Europe, 2 ; customs, 51-2 ; the
route from England, 88-90 ; gate-
ways, 90; the citadel, 91; the
sanctuary, 91-2 ; the mosque and
shrine, 92-7, 135, 169 ; the
surrounding graveyard, 97, 98 ;
the Khiaban, 98 ; the bazaar,
99-100; the streets, 1 00, 103-5;
the dervishes, 101-2 ; an old
Seyid, 102 ; environs, 106-21 ;
postal service to India, III; the
Musalla, iii ; shrine of Kwajah
Rabi, 112-13; sport in, 113-15;
processions, 149-51, 156; Un-
believers in, 161 ; pilgrimages,
206 ; English gardens, 259 ; car-
pets, 320

Meshedi, title, 206, 326

Mesopotamia, 321

Mesoud, Sultan Shah, 309

Minars, 180

350

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Minerals, Persian, lo

Mirage, the, 157

Mirza AH Mohammed, 141-2

Mirza Taki Khan, 169, 172

Mirza Yahya, 142

Missionary work in Persia, 138-9

Mithridates the Great, 18

Moawiyeh, 146-7

Mobeds, 123

Modakhel, 58, 59

Mohamera, 233

Mohammed, death of, 30-1, 334;
his descendants, 145-6 ; his wife,
200, 201

Mohammed Ali Shah, reign of,
35-8 ; the constitution revoked,
50 ; relations with foreign min-
isters, 57 ; court customs, 57-8.

Mohammed Shah, 34

Mohammedan invasion of Persia,
II, 19, 26-8, 124, 275-6, 299

Mohammedanism in Persia. See
Islamism

Mongol invasion of Persia, 8, 11,
28-30, 45, 96, no, 116, 261, 300,
304. 310

Mongolian Steppes, the, 269

Monsoon, 226

" Moon of al Mukanna," the, 140

Moore, " Lalla Rookh," 139, 257

Moors, the, 216

Morieh, " Haji Baba," 87

Mosque ot Fatima, 90-8, 169, 205

Mosul, 262

Motor-cars, 58

Mountains — Elburz range, 2-3, 42-3,
45 ; Jupa range, 186

Mourners, hired, 76

Muezzin, the, 69, i57> 217

Muharram, 54, 102, 144; proces-
sions, 149-51, 156; ceremonies-
149-56; self-mutilation, 150; the
" Passion Play," 151-6

Muir, Sir William, " Life of

Mahomet," cited, 129-30, 133-4,

145, 208
Mujtehid, 100, 135
Mules, Persian, 232-3
Mullas, 76, 77, 78, 95, 129, 135-6,

151, 155, 207
Murdab, the, 248
Murghab, plain of, 273
Musalla of Meshed, 39, III
Music, barbaric, 49, 151 ; National,

282-3
Muzaffer-ed-Din Shah, 35, 36 ; the

Constitution, 50 ; customs, 57
Mystics. See Sufis

Nachod, 72

Nadir Shah, 40, 53, 135, 172, 192 ;
conquests of, 31-2 ; siege of
Delhi, 52

Nagara-Khana, Tehran, 49

Naksh-i-Rustum, rock-tombs, 273,
275; bas-reliefs, 315

Nan, 213

Napoleon, 227

Nasr-ed-Din Shah, 34-5, 36, 48, 57,
96, no, 165, 169, 198, 277

National Assembly, 36, 138-9

National Council, 38

Nationalist party, the, 37

Navy, the Persian, 224

Nearchus, Admiral, 227

Nehavend, battle of, 27

Nejef, 96

Nestorians, the, 22, 138, 235, 322 ;
account of, 127-9

New Testament, the, Mohammedan
attitude towards, 80

Niamatulla, story of, 325-30

Nigaristan Palace, Tehran, 49

Nile, the, 17

Nirvana, 123

Nishapur, 10, 29, 267, 301 ; tur-
quoise mines of, 11 8-1 9 ; devasta-
tion of, 300-1, 304

INDEX

351

Nizami, Poet, 109, 300

Nizam-ul-Mulk, 29, 43-4, 300

No Ruz, feast of, 28, 35, 53, 102,

136, 271, 287
Nomads of Persia, 219
Nushirvan the Just, 24

Oath, the Persian, 81-2

Odessa, 38

"Old Man of the Mountain," 43,

44-5
Oman. Gulf of, 225
Omar, Khalif, 129, 146, 189; burnt

in ef&gy, 129, 148-9
Omar KLhayyam, 29, 43 ; the

Rtiba'iyat, lines quoted, 243,

303-4 ; fame of, 301 ; grave of,

302 ; death, 302-3
Ophthalmia, 182
Opium habit, the, 213-14
Ormuzd, 123, 124, 125, 126
Orodes, King of Parthia, 18-19
Orthodox Christians, 128
Othman, 146
Overland route to Meshed, 89

Pahlavi language, the, 109,

284
Palms, a source of wealth, 190, 213
Parsis, the, I, 122, 127, 334
Parthian period of Persian history,

17-20, 299
" Parthian shot," the expression, 17
Pasargadse, 39, 273
"Passion Play" in Tehran, 151-6 ;

a resume of a translation, 154-6
Patriotism, Persian, 85
Payne, J., translations of Hafiz,3io

311,312,313
Peacock throne, the, 53
Peasant, the Persian, 210-13
Pearl fishery, the, 231, 232
Pelly, Sir Lewis, " The Persian

Miracle Play," 153-4

Persepolis, 16, 21, 39, l6l, 238,270,
315; destruction, 124; Porch of
Xerxes, 271 ; hall of Darius, 271 ;
Propylsa of Xerxes, 272 ; the
rock-tombs of Naksh-i-Rustum,

273

Persepolis, the, 224

Persian Gulf, the— Climate, 2-5;
vegetation, 5 ; Arab tribes of the,
11; the slave trade, 69, 224 ; the
peasant, 210 ; history, 227 ;
trade, 227-8

Persis, province of, 21

Philip of Macedon, 299

Phoenicians, the, 227

Phraates, 19

Physical features of Persia, 2-7

Pigeon-flying, 280

Pigeons, 252

Pilau, the, 70, 71, 213

Pilgrimages to Kum, 169 ; to Ker-
bela, 225 ; women pilgrims, 206

Pir-i-Bazaar, 41

Plat^a, victory of, 15

Plateau of Persia, 43 ; sport on the,
279

Polo, Marco— Travels of, 44, 128,
280; at Meshed, 108-9; route
taken by, 209, 260-7, ; the
Golden Tablet, 261 ; at the
court of Kublai Khan, 267 ; re-
turn to Venice, 267-8 ; the extent
of his work, 268-9 '■> a^t Kerman,
278

Polvar, the, 270, 273

Pompey, 18

Population of Persia, 1 , 1 1

Portugal, possessions in Arabia,
226, 228

Postal service, Persian, 35, iii

Posting in Persia, 162

Polygamy, decay of, 75, 126

Poverty, prevalence of, 7-8

Prayer, Moslem, 69-70, 73, 130-2

352

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Precious stones, 52
Predestination, doctrine 01, 130
Processions, 149-51, 156
Propylaea of Xerxes, Persepolis, 272
Protestants, 128
Proverbs, Persian, 160, 176, 196,

201, 203, 209, 219, 242, 247,

248, 251, 265, 278, 308
Punishments, national, 65, 84
Pushteens, 99, 268

Quakers, 141
Queens of Persia, 27
Quietists, 141

Railways, Persian, 9, 165

Rainfall, 4

Raksh, steed of Rustum, 186, 289,
290-8

Ramazan, 54, 78, 133-6, 211

Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 6 ; the sec-
ret of the cuneiform writing, 275

Recitals, 155-6

Regan, 188

Renaissance, the, in Persia, 31

Reptiles, 254

Resht, rainfall,4 ; description, 41-2 ;
embroideries of, 319

Reza, sowar, iii

Rhe (Rhages), ruins of, 317

Rivers, Persian — Zendeh Rud, 3 ;
Helmand, 6 ; Karun, 9 ; Tigris,

19
River courses, dry, 193
Roads, Persian, 9, 41, 89, 178-9
Rock-dwellings, 177
Rock-sculptures, 275, 276, 284
Rock-tombs, 273
Roman Catholics in Persia, 128,

138
Rome, attempted conquest of Par-

thia, 18-26
Rosary or tasbih, the, 1 32
Rose-water, 220

Rostov, 89

Rudbar Gate of Tus, 286

Rukh Shah, 96

Russia — Caspian fisheries, 10, 253 ;
Persian attempts to conquer, 15 ;
encroachments on Persia, 34;
the Duma, 36 ; siege of Tabriz
raised, 37 ; relations with Persia,
38, 41, 89; the gate of Meshed,
90 ; Russian Consulate, Meshed,

91

Rustum, adventures of, 5, 275, 289-

97
Ruzakhana, the, 149, 155

Saadi (Musharrifu'd-Din) —
Fables of, 24, 241-2 ; fame of,
79, 216, 304; maxims of, 196,
219, 251 ; the Gulistan, 266-7,
305-9 ; account of, 304-5 ; the
Bustan, 306

Saba (Sava), 263

Sacrifice, Moslem, 136

Saffari dynasty, 29

St. John, Major, cited, '238, 254,
279

Salads, 249

Sakkas, 149

Salamis, battle of, 15, 224

Salt deserts, 168, 171

Samarkand, 310; mosque of Timur,

317
Samanian dynasty, the, 29
Samovars, 99, 173
Sanabad, garden of, 96
Sand-storms, 192
Sanjak, 213
Sanjar, Prince, 301
Saracenic art, 28, 324
Sardar-i- Assad, the, 37, 38
Sardu, the, 269
Sasan, 21
Sasanian dynasty, the, 7, 19, 21-8,

31, 40, 50, 109

INDEX

353

Sattar Khan, 37

Satrapies, the, 17

Scorpions of Kashan, 171-2, 255

Sefavean dynasty, 31, 32, 40, 96,
140

Seleucia, destruction of, 20

Seleucidae, the, 17, 18

Seleucus, General, 17

Self-mutilations, 150

" Sepulchre of the Mother of Solo-
man," 274

Servants, Persian, 67-8, 82-3, 175

Severus, Alexander, 21

Seyids, 94, 100, 102-3, 131, 134,
207

Shagirds, 1 62

Shah, the — Customs-dress, 50-
51; eating, 52; the royal
jewels, 52-3 ; feast of No
Ruz, 53-4 ; his wives, 54-6 ;
palaces outside Tehran, 56-7 ;
his revenue, 211

Shahnama, legends of the, 123,
275

Shahrbanu, Princess, 154

Shahr-i-Jiruft, 265

Shaitan, 186

Shatiial, the, 235

Shapur I., capture of Valerian, 21-2,
236, 275-6 ; the dam at Shuster,
234, 236

Shapur II., 22-3

Shapur, city of, 275-6

Shar, the, 61, 135

Shat-el-Arab river, 233, 262

Sheikhs, appearance, 229-30

Shemsh, 181

Sherley brothers, the, 260

Sherley, Sir Anthony, 40, 109

"Sherry" introduced into Spain,
216

Shiahs, 30-1, 44, 129, 145, 148,
189, 225

Shikar chi, 178

Shimr, 148, I54,"i68

Shimran, slope of, 57

Shiraz, 2, 32, 40, 141, 232, 309
population, 11, 86; white wines
of, 216 ; lions of, 238 ; beauty of,
310-11 ; carpets, 320

Shirin, Queen, 25, 109

Shrines, tombs of just governors,
59; Baluchistani, 189-90

Shughad, treachery of, 29S

Shushan, 39, 316

Shtishati, the steamer, 236

Shuster, the irrigation dam at, 22,
24, 234, 236

SJuihtrckis, 187

Siam, 269

Siesta, the, 221

Silk industry, the, 215, 263

Silver-work, 318

Sipahdar, the, 37, 38

Sirdabs, 236

Siroes, 26

Sistan, province of, 5-6, 29, 294

Skobeleff, 88, no

Slaves, Persian, 68-9, Turkoman
raids, 109-10 ; the Gulf policed
by England, 224, 229

Smerdis, 14

Smith, Sir Murdoch, cited, 317

Smyrna, bazaars, lOO

Social conditions, poverty, 7-8;
cost of living at Tehran, 8 ; ap-
pearance of the Irani, I1-12

Socrates, 122

Soh, 173

Sohrab, adventures of, 294-7

Solomon, King, 288 ; legend of,
251 ; throne of, 273-4

Solon, 124

Sowars, iii

Sparrow-hawks, 279-80

Sphinx, H.M.S., 227

Sport, Persian, 1 13-15, 277-83

Stanley, Dean, quoted, 131

354

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Statue, antique, single example,
276

Stevenson, R. L., quoted, 159

Stoddart, 261

Stork, the, 249

Story-tellers, public, 98

Sufism, 140-1, 312

Seelabs, 193

Sultanabad, 320

Sumatra, 269

Sun, the emblem, 3, 216-7

Sunnis, 30-1, 113, 129, 189, 225,
306

Superstition, Persian, 325-40

Susa, 236, 237 ; palace of Darius,
316

Sykes, Major, "Ten Thousand
Miles in Ve.xAa.,'" cited, 108, 119,
189, 227, 262, 263, 269 ; " Pil-
grimage," cited, 302 ; his Persian
collection, 317

Tabriz, 35, 40, 141, 180; siege of,
1908, 36 ; colleges, 61 ; the cita-
del, 88 ; trade of, 262

Taft, village of, 178, 179

Takht, 221

Takht-i-Jamshid, 270

Takht-i-ravan, 206

Takht-i- Suleiman, 273-4

Takht-i-Taous, throne of, 53

Tak-i-Bostan, 276

Tamerlane, 128

Tamineh, Princess, 293-4, 295,
297

Tarantulas, 255

Tartar invasion of Persia, 30

Tartars of Timur, 28

Tartary, fire-worship in, 123

Tavernier, 260

Taxation, 59

Tazieks, Persian, 15 1-6

Tchai-khanas , 98

Tea-shops, Persian, 98

Tehran, 33, 35, 37, 40, 142, 263 ;
journey from Europe, 2, 41-5 ;
cost of living at, 8 ; description,
45-6 ; roads, 46 ; the rainy sea-
son, 46-7 ; bazaars, 47-8 ;
monuments, 48 ; the Legations,
48-9 ; the Nigaristan, 49 ; the
Meidan-i-Shah, 49 ; the Shah's
palace, 52-6 ; environs, 56-8 ;
education in, 61 ; Gabrs, 122 ;
the " Passion Play," 151-6 ; a
journey from, 163, et seq. ; the
British Minister, 253 ; English
gardens in, 259 ; horse-racing in,
280

Tekke, Turkomans of, carpets
made by, 321, 322

Telegraph communication, 9-10, 35

Thales, 124

Thermopylae, pass of, defence, 15

" Three Wise Men," the, 263

Threshing, 215

Tibet, 269

Ticks, 170, 256-7

Tiflis, 41

Tigers, 239

Tigris, the, 19, 227, 233

Tiles, enamelled, 171, 183, 316-17

Timur the Lame, 30, 310 ; mosque
at Samarkand, 317

Tipcat, 281

Togrul the Seljuk, 29

Tombs of Bahrein, 231-2

Towers of Silence, 126, 181

Trade routes, 262

Trading customs, 47, 48

Trajan, 20

Transcaspia, 88

Transcaspian Railway, 89-90

Transcaucasian Railway, 88

Travelling, modes of, 162-3 '■> suit-
able outfit, 163-4

Tripoli, 305

True Cross, the, mention of, 25

INDEX

355

Tuesday, Zoroastrian observance of,

127
Tufangchis, 160
Tup Meidan, the, Tehran, 48
Turanians, the, 14, 99
Turkish invasion of Persia, 29
Turkoman raids, 100, 109-10, 245,

300 ; Massacre at Geok Tepe, 88,

1 10 ; Turkomans utilised for the

postal service, iii
Turquoise, the, 52, 63, 1 18-19;

mines of Nishapur, 10, 1 1 8- 19
Tus, 29, 95, 96, 98, 285-6 ; shrine

of Imam Reza, 1 16-17 ; tomb of

Firdawsi, 1 17-18; reduction of, 304

Urf, the, 61
Urumiah, Lake, 123
Urumiah, Nestorians (rf, 128
Uzsbegs, the, n, 96

Valerian, Emperor, 21-2, 236,
275-6

Vali Ahd, the, 41

" Valley of the Angel of Death,"
168 ; story of, 325-30

Vambery, Prof., " Life and Adven-
tures," died, 93, 109, 120-I

Vegetation of Persia, 5, 258

Venice, 228, 260

Vespasian, Emperor, 20

Vienna, 89

Village, the Persian, 57, 216-17

Vine, culture of the, 216

Vishtaspa, King, 123

Volcano — Demavend, 2, 45 ; Kuh-i-
Basman, 188

Vultures, 181, 250

Water, value of, in Persia, 49,

222
Wills, Dr. "Persia as it is," cited,

215 ; " Land of the Lion and the

Sun," cited, 256, 280

Winds, the bad-i-sud-i-hist ruz,
6

Windsor Castle, 57

Wine industry, the, 216

Wives of the Shah, 54-6 ; temporary
wives, 95

Wolves, 240

Woman in Persia— Treatment of the
European woman, 47 ; the Shah's
wives, 54-6 ; dress, 56, 198-200 ;
punishment for crime, 62 ; her
social position, 63-4; marriage,
74-5, 201-6 ; her position in the
house, 75-6 ; paradise, 78-9 ;
Sigehs, 95 ; Zoroastrian women,
1 26-7 ; effect of Islamism on her
position, 129-30, 137, 169,208-9;
under Babism, 143 ; at the " Pas-
sion Play," 1 5 1-2 ; the woman of
Baluchistan, 189 ; proverbs con-
cerning, 196; the girl's education,
197 ; seclusion of, 197-8 ; the
day's occupation, 200 ; origin of
the veiling of, 200-201 ; her
anxiety to have a son, 204-5 ;
burial customs, 207-8; village
women , 218; Nomad women, 2 1 9

Wrestling, 281

Xenophon, 64
Xeres, wine industry of, 216
Xerxes of Persia, 15 ; his navy, 224;
Persepolis, 271-2

Yazdigird III., 27

Yezd, 7, 138, 141, 262, 263, 269,
Gabrs, 122 ; the fire temple, 125,
126 ; Babism in, 143 ; the Desert
City, 177-81 ; limestone cliffs,
179; Zoroastrians of, 179,180-1;
Towers of Silence, 181 ; Marco
Polo's visit, 263-4

Yezdikhast, village of, 177

Yezid, Khalif, 147-8

356

PERSIA AND ITS PEOPLE

Yule, Sir Henry, ' ' Marco
cited, 262, 268-9

Zabulistan, 295
Zainab, 154
Zal, 291
Zanjan, 141
Zeid, his wife, 200
Zend dynasty, 32, 40
Zendah Rud, the, 3
Zil-i-Sultan, the, 55, 176

Polo,"

Zohak, King, 27, 288-9

Zoroastrianism — First converts, 13;
stamped out in Persia, 20-2, 28 ;
an account of, 122-7; death of
Zoroaster, 124 ; restrictions on
Zoroastrians, 126-7 5 the symbol
of the sun, 216-17 ; burial cus-
toms, 273

Zoroastrians of Bombay, i; of Yezd,
179, 1 80- 1 ; of Kerman, 185

Zulfakar, the sword, 135

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