NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Gift of CHARLES E. ANTHOHY ■ 1. • t. .-A\ >»• OF PERSIA, FROM THE JOURNALS OF A TRAVELLER IN THE EAST. "SoVsV,, \'A OlA C &V ■'Vy«. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. A NEW EDITION. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. MDCCCXXVIIl. LONDON: PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS. these volumes AKE INSCRIBED TO JOHN FLEMING, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., &c. LATE PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL BOARD OF CALCUTTA, BY HIS MOST SINCERE AND ATTACHED FRIEND, THE TRAVELLER. INTRODUCTION. Once upon a time this Island of Great Bri¬ tain had some spots where men and women and little children dwelt, or were believed to dwell, in innocence, ignorance, and content. Travellers seldom visited them; poets saw them in their dreams, and novelists told stories of them ; but these days are now past. Thanks to steam-boats and stage-coaches, there is not a spot to which an ignorant or sage human being can retire, where his eye will not be de¬ lighted or offended by a dark column of smoke, or his ear gratified or grated by the rattling wheels of a carriage. It is perhaps a conse¬ quence of this invasion of retirement that all are tempted from their homes, and that while one half of the population is on the highways vi INTRODUCTION. the Other half is on the narrow seas. This love of travel, however, is in the vast majority limited to the neighbouring countries of Eu¬ rope ; but the ardour of curiosity, and an am¬ bitious desire of escaping from the beaten track, has of late years induced not a few scientific and enterprising travellers to overrun the re¬ nowned lands of Greece and Egypt, whose in¬ habitants stare with astonishment at men flying with impatience from town to town, exploring ruins; measuring pyramids; groping in dark caverns; analyzing the various properties of earth, air, and water; carrying off mutilated gods and goddesses ; packing up common stones and pebbles, as if they were rubies and dia¬ monds ; and even bearing away the carcases of the dead, strangely preferring the withered frame of a female mummy, which has been mouldering for four thousand years in its se¬ pulchre, to the loveliest specimens of living and animated beauty. lííTRODUCTION. VÜ The uninformed natives of these countries, whose condition is much to be deplored, are not aware that the great Samuel Johnson has said, that " Whatever raises the past, the distant, and the future, above the present, exalts us in the dignity of human beings;" which is an un¬ answerably good reason for the preference given to mummies over every living object, however fascinating. The rage of the present day for mummies and other delectable reliques of antiquity has deluged Egypt with itinerant men of science and research, who have quite exhausted that land of wonders; and those who have lately visited it have been reduced, from actual want of other aliment, to the necessity of preying upon their predecessors, many of whom have been cruelly mangled, and some wholly de¬ voured. These wandering tribes of writers, who are, in a certain degree, subject to the same motives viii INTRODUCTION. which force the hordes of Tartar y to change their places of abode, have recently begun to migrate into Syria, Asia Minor, and some have actually penetrated as far as Persia. This has given me no small alarm, for I have long had designs upon that country myself : I had seen something of it, and had indulged a hope that I might, at my leisure, gratify the public by allowing them to participate in my stock of in¬ formation ; but being of an indolent disposition I deferred the execution of this, my favourite plan, until that anticipated period of repose, the prospect of which, however distant, has always cheered a life of vicissitude and labour. Nothing that had hitherto appeared respect¬ ing Persia at all frightened me. I am no historian, therefore I did not tremble at Sir John Malcolm's ponderous quartos; I am no tourist, Mr. Morier's Journeys gave me no un¬ easiness ; the learned Researches of Sir William Ouseley were enough to terrify an antiquarian, INTRODUCTION. ix but that was not my trade ; and, as I happen to have clumsy, untaught fingers, and little if any taste for the picturesque, I viewed, without alarm, the splendid volumes of Sir Robert Ker Porter. Far different, however, was the case when that rogue Hajji Baba made his appear¬ ance. I perused him with anxiety, but was consoled by finding that, though he approached the very borders of my province, he had made no serious inroads. I was roused, however, into action, and determined instantly to rum¬ mage those trunks into which my sketches had been thrown as they were finished, and where many of them had slumbered undisturbed for nearly thirty years. I must warn the reader that the trunks here spoken of bear no resemblance whatever to those imaginary boxes which it has lately been the fashion to discover, filled with MSS., unac¬ countably deposited in them by some strange and mysterious wight; mine are all real, well- X INTRODUCTION. made, strong, iron-clamped boxes, which I had prepared with great care, in order that they might preserve the papers I from time to time intrusted to them. I am well aware that this plain and true statement of the fact will, with many, diminish the interest of these pages; but with others it will increase it ; for they will be gratified to find in them sketches taken on the spot, while the facts and the feelings to which they relate were fresh and warm before me; and I can truly affirm, that the sense, the nonsense, the anecdotes, the fables, and the tales,—all, in short, which these volumes con¬ tain, with the exception of a few sage reflections of my own, do actually belong to the good peo¬ ple amongst whom they profess to have been collected. Yet partial as I was to my secret hoard, it was long before I could make up my mind to publish. While I was one day musing upon the subject, my attention was accidentally INTRODUCTION. xi drawn to a volume of Persian poetry that was lying on the table. A ial or lot, I exclaimed, shall put an end to my indecision! Saying which, according to the usage of my Persian friends in like cases, I shut my eyes, opened the book, and counting seven pages back, read the first four lines, as follows: " Her kih sefer kerdeh pesendeedeh sheved Z'âeena-e-noor kemâl-esh deedeh sheved Pâkeezeter ez âh nebâshed cheezee Her jâh kih kooned mekâm gendeedeh sheved." " Whoever has travelled shall be approved ; His perfections shall be reflected as from a mirror of light. There can be nothing more pure than water; But wherever it stagnates it becomes oflPensive." My delight was excessive, and I despatched my manuscripts forthwith to the bookseller; who has been desired to keep me minutely in- xii INTRODUCTION. formed of the success of these volumes; and a hint has been given him, that if they meet with encouragement, the contents of the boxes be¬ fore mentioned are far from being exhausted. NOTE TO THE READER. The usual orthography some proper names has been altered^ with a view of rendering them more con- Jbrmable to the pronunciation and the grammar of the languages to which they belong. For instcmcey our old friend and favourite, the caliph Harou7i-al-Raschid of the Arabian Tales, appears under his Arabic name of Haroon-oor-Rasheed. The critical reader will also discover that a few of tloe eastern words have not always been spelled exactly alike. This unintentional typo¬ graphical inaccuracy was caused by the peculiar cir¬ cumstances under which these volumes were printed. CONTENTS Ol VOL. I. CHAPTER I. Page Voyage from Bombay to the Persian Gulf . 1 CHAPTER II. Muscat .... . . 10 CHAPTER III. The Persian Gulf and Abusheher . 27 CHAPTER IV. Camp at Abusheher—Horses—^Abdùlla—Aga—Auec- dote of an Arab • .41 CHAPTER V. Hunting and hawking—Entertainment of the Shaikh —Tollemache—Mirage—Nadir Shah and Turkish ambassador . . .02 CHAPTER VI. Elchee's lectures—Mehmandar's journal—Arab nurse —Blue-beard—^Persian ceremony—King's picture 69 CHAPTER VII. Mountaineers—Valley of Kazeroon—Virtue of nitric acid—Riza Kooli Khan's loss of eyes—Extraordi¬ nary birds—Beautiful valley of Desht-e-Aijun— Mahomet Biza Khan Byat—Irish patriotism— Persian squire . . . . 85 xvi CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER VIII. Principal characters of themission—Mahomed Hoosein Khan—Jaffier Ali Khan—Meerza Aga Meer— Mahomed Hoosein—Hajee Hoosein—Candidates for the Elchee's favour . . . .101 CHAPTER IX. Importance of forms—Description of those used at visits in Persia—Difficulties on this subject—Happy termination of a battle of ceremonies between the first Mission and the petty court of Shiraz—Persian society—Fables and apologues . . .119 CHAPTER X. Fable of the two cats—Preamble to Persian treaty— Apologues from Sadee—Letter from Nizâm-ool- Moolk to Mahomed Shah—Death of Yezdijird . 149 CHAPTER XI. Shiraz—Shaikh-ool-Islâm, or Chief Judge—Story of Abd-ool-Kadir—Entertainments—Derveesh Seffer —Story of Abdûlla of Khorassan—Persian poet . 169 CHAPTER XII. Persian servants—Departure from Shiraz—Persepolis —Tale of the labours of Roostem—Anecdote of a sportsman ..... 204 CHAPTER XIII. Travellers and antiquaries—Wild ass—Hawking— Mâder-e- Sûlimân—Akleed—Mirrors Mehdee Khan—Isfahan—Persian citizens and peasantry— Shah Abbas the Great—Haroon-oor-Rasheed— Nethenz ...... 240 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. CHAPTER I. voyage from bombay to the persian gurf. There is a nionotony in a long sea-voyage, particularly to passengers, which those who have never traversed the wide ocean cannot well un¬ derstand. A fair or contrary wind, a calm or a storm, a man overboard, a strange sail, or the hooking of a shark, are events which rouse for the moment ; hut the passenger soon sinks again into his listless, restless life, sitting half an hour below, walking another half hour on deck, hold¬ ing on by the rigging when the ship rolls, look¬ ing over the gangway when the sea is smooth, watching the man casting the log, and waiting with anxiety to hear the latitude announced at twelve o'clock. His little incidents are, being in the way of the officer of the watch when upon deck, and when below disturbing the cap¬ tain's calculations of the longitude, by laughing vol. i. b 2 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. I. or talking with other idlers ; for that is the class in which he is registered in the muster-roll of the crew. With me, however, there is a pur¬ suit which helps to beguile a long voyage. I am always on the look-out for odd characters, and these abound at sea ; from which circum¬ stance, I suppose, we have our common phrase of calling an out-of-the-way person " an odd fish," alluding to the element where he is generally found. Such a one I met ön board the frigate in which we sailed for Persia, and I shall give a sketch of him as taken at the moment. This man, whose name was Peterson, was what he appeared to be, a blunt sailor : his ex¬ perience in the Indian seas recommended him to the situation he now occupied, as acting master of a frigate : he was a figure to play FalstaiF, being very stout, and nearly six feet high. He wore his clothes loose, and, when he came on board, a sailor, struck with his appearance, turning his quid as he eyed him, exclaimed "We shall never be in distress for canvas ; our new master wears a spare set of sails." I shall give Peterson's history in his own words, as related after dinner the day he came on board. " I have been," said he, " thirty- CHAP. L] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 3 two years at sea, and have seen both calms and storms. When a young man, I was stuck full of arrows by some savage Americans ; and but for a tobacco-box, which stopped one that hit upon a vital part, I should have gone to Davy*s locker at that time. Since I came to this coun- try, twenty-eight years ago, I have had many ups and down, but weathered them all pretty tolerably till three years since, when coming to Bombay in a small sloop, I was laid on board by some pirates belonging to Bate*. We fought as well as we could, but the rascals were too many for us, and while we were defending one part of the vessel they sprung on board at an¬ other, giving a fire at the same time, which killed my owner close beside me. A passenger then jumped overboard, for which, thought I, ' you are a fool for let the worst come to the worst, a man may do that at any time. One of these fellows looking at me cried * Mar hara- mee,' which means, * kill the rascal.' * Mut mar,' ' don't kill him,' said a soft-hearted look¬ ing fellow, and defended me irom the blow ; so they did not kill me, but stripped and bound * The island of Sate is situated at the nrarth-westem extremity of the Gulf of Cutch. B ^ 4 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. I. me to the capstan, and away they took us to Bate. When we came there, the chief or head fellow came on board, and I fully expected we should be sent ashore and hanged. When this chap sent for me, I was a pretty figure ; I had not been shaved for three weeks, and I was wrapped round with a top-gallant studding sail. * What are you V said the fellow. * An En¬ glishman,' said I. * Very well ; I won't kill you.' * Faith,' thinks I, ' I'm very glad of that.' * My people,' says he, * are all big thieves.' * Egad,' thinks I, * you are the biggest of the gang.' He then asked me what money or pro¬ perty I had ; and I thought at one time he looked as if he would have given it back ; so I tells him all, even to my gold watch. The whole was about five thousand rupees. * Well, well,' says he, * it shall be taken care of ;' and I suppose it was, for I never saw a rap of it, only five rupees that the villain gave me, in a present, as he called it, to bear my expenses when he sent me and my crew to Bombay. " I left Bate, notwithstanding my losses, as happy as could be, to get out of their clutches alive ; and after some days we reached Bombay in a pretty pickle ; my feet were swelled, I had CHAP. I.J SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 5 not shaved since my capture, and I had only a few ragged clothes on. Two rupees were left out of the five, and with them I went to a tavern and ordered breakfast ; when it was over I told one of the servants to call his master. In came an English waiter, with his head all powdered, shuffling and mincing, saying, as he entered the room, ' Do you want me, sir ?' ' Yes,' says I, * I want you : I have been plundered, and have got no cash, and will thank you to lend me twenty or thirty rupees.' * What are you—a common sailor ? ' ' Not quite,' says I ; * but I want the money to get a few clothes, and then I can go to my friends.' ' I am not master of this house,' said this gentleman, and out he skips. I saw no more of him or his twenty rupees ; and when I told a servant to get me a tiffin, he said, I had not paid for my breakfast. As I was jawing with this fellow, a Farsee* came in, and asked me if I had not better go to the bazar, and borrow some clothes, and then * Parsee is the name of the descendants of the ancient Persians, who still retain the usages and religion of their forefathers. There are many of these followers of Zoroaster at Bombay, where they form, if not the most numerous, the most respectable part of the native community. 6 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. I. go to my friends. Well, God knows, I had not much heart to do any thing ; for the un- kindness of my countryman, after all I had suf¬ fered, cut me just as if I had been cut with a knife ; but I thought I might as well follow the Parsee, who was one of those fellows that go about Bombay trying what they can make of every body they meet. I goes first to one shop, and tries things on ; and when they fit, I says, * I will pay you to-morrow ; ' but the fellow says, * No ; ready money.' Well, I was obliged to strip again : this happened at four shops, and I was quite tired, when a good fellow, who keeps No. 18, of the Great Bazar, said I might fit myself, and pay when I could. I then got rigged, and stood away for Mr. Adamson, whom I had before known. I met him at the door of his house, and he did not know me ; but when I told him my story—' Oh ! ' says he, quite pitiful, * are you the poor fellow who has suffered so much ? I will get you a birth in another ship —and take this.' So saying, he gives me one hundred rupees. Well, I thanked him ; and next goes to Captain Phillips, and got from him a present of two gold mohurs, and six suits of good clothes, from top to toe. He made me CHAP. I.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 7 report and write three or four sheets about Bate, and how I had been used ; and then sent me to the governor, Mr. Duncan, who gets all the long story from me again, and then gave me one hundred rupees. I had now two hundred and thirty rupees and clean rigging. I goes again to the tavern, and sings out lustily for tiffin. Well, they look and sees I am quite a different thing from before, and so become mighty civil and attentive. The waiter begs my pardon— says he was mistaken—and that he had twenty rupees ready, and would give me any aid I liked. * D—n your aid,' says I ; ' you are very ready to give it to any person who does not want it.' It was a great treat to me to serve him as I did : I eat my tiffin, paid for it on the table, and left the house. " Well," said Peterson, " to make a long story short, I went in a China ship, and, last year, got the command of a vessel belonging to a Persian merchant, who trades to the Gulf. He was a bad owner, had no credit, and, what with that and the fear of the Arabs, I had a troublesome time of it. We parted ; and he has got another captain, rather black to be sure, but he likes him all the better, I suppose, from being nearer 8 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. I. his own vile colour than I was ; and I, by this means, being along shore, having no money or credit, am glad to come as acting-master of this here ship. I thank God I have good health, and don't complain ; many are worse off than I am." Such was our Master's * history. In a con¬ versation I had with him, as we were walking the deck, the day we arrived at Muscat, I asked him if he had a wife ? " No said he. " You were never married, then ?" " I didn't say so," he replied. " I beg your pardon," said I. " Oh ! no harm, no harm ! the honest truth never need be hid : I was married ; but taking a long voyage, being away seven years, and my letters (of which, by the by, I wrote but few) miscarrying, what does my wife do, but marries again. This I heard when I got home to England." And what did you do ?" said I ; " did you inquire after her ?" " Indeed I did not," said Peterson with great indifference ; "I didn't think her worth so much trouble ; she w^as glad, I suppose, * This old sailor is now no more. He continued un¬ lucky till he found a generous patron at Bombay, whose active benevolence gave repose and comfort to his latter days. CHAP. I.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 9 to get rid of me, and, God knows, I was not sorry to be shot of her." The vicissitudes to which sailors are subject train them to bear what are termed the ups and downs of life better than any other men in the world. They appear, when afloat, not only to leave all their cares on shore, but to forget the hardships incident to their condition. A re¬ markable instance of this was given by our captain, who told us, that he went one day to see a tender, on board which there was a great number of men who had just been pressed, and who, though strictly confined in their floating prison, were, nevertheless, joining in the chorus of one of our patriotic airs, and singing with great glee the old song— " Who are so free as we sons of the waves ? " CHAPTER II. muscat. " Land from the mast-head Î" ** What does it look like?" " High land, sir, on the lar¬ board bow, stretching away to the north-west." " Can you see land to starboard?" " No." " Then," says the captain, with some little swell, " we have just hit it ; the watch is a good one ; and three or four hours of this will bring us into Muscat." The prediction proved cor¬ rect. Now, if I understood perspective and retrospective, how I would delight my readers by contrasting the barren rocky hills of Arabia, where not a trace of vegetable nature is to be found, with the shaded shores of Ceylon, and the dark forests that clothe the lofty mountains of Malabar ! But I am not a picturesque tra¬ veller ; suffice it therefore to say, the arid hills we were now contemplating protect, by almost encircling it, a cove, at the extremity of which is a small plain, crowded with high houses, which form the city of Muscat. This emporium to the trade of the Persian Gulf is defended by CHAP. II.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 11 batteries, which command its narrow entrance, as well as by fortifications that cover every part of the uneven and mis-shapen hills and crags around it. Muscat is governed by a prince whose title is Imam, and whose authority, like that of many chiefs in Arabia, is more of a patriarchal than despotic character. Though he has large fleets, including some fine frigates, and a considerable army to garrison his possessions on the coast of Africa, the shores of Arabia, and the islands of the Persian Gulf, he must attend to the sum¬ mons of any inhabitant of Muscat who calls him to a court of justice. Your sceptics who deny the existence of any just administration of power, except in the commonwealth of Europe, may call this a mere form. Be it so : yet the know¬ ledge that such a form was observed went far, in my mind, to mark the character of this petty government. But it is the eye, the disposition, and the judgment of the observer, more than what is actually seen, that stamps the condition of distant nations with those who have to form their opinions at second-hand; and the gene¬ rality of readers, who have their happiness grounded on a natural prejudice in favour of 12 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. II. their own ways and usages, lean toward such as minister to their pride and patriotism, by throw¬ ing a dark shade on all they meet different from old England, or some of those countries in its vicinity, for which their good climate, cheap viands, and well flavoured wines, have created a predilection. The eastern hemisphere continues to have a certain venerable air with old men from a belief that the star of knowledge first enlightened its horizon : children delight in it from its con¬ taining the enchanting tales of the " Thousand and one Nights ; " ladies admire its flowered muslins, rich shawls, pure pearls, and brilliant diamonds ; merchants view it as a source of commercial wealth ; the naturalist, the botanist, and the geologist, search its plains, its forests, and its mountains, for unicorns, spikenard, splendid specimens of zeolite, and grand basaltic formations ; the English soldier looks to its fields for a harvest of reputation ; while pious missionaries sally forth with more than military zeal, to reclaim the millions of the East from their errors, and direct them in the path of life. Almost all these, however different their ob- CHAP. II.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 13 jects, concur in one sentiment, that the rulers of the East are despots, and their subjects slaves ; that the former are cruel, the latter degraded and miserable, and both equally ignorant. I had seen the father of the present Imam of Muscat when I accompanied a former mission to Persia; we had been introduced to him on board the Ganjava, his flag ship, of a thousand tons burthen, and carrying forty guns. We found him, though surrounded with some state, very simply attired ; he had a shawl rolled round his head as a turban, and the Arab cloak, which hung over his plain robes, was of white broad¬ cloth, no way ornamented ; he wore no jewels, and had no arms, not even a dagger, about his person ; his manner was plain and manly, and marked his active enterprising character. The eyes of his crew (Arabs, Nubians, and Abys- sinians), who were upon or near the quarter¬ deck, though they wandered now and then among his visitors, were usually fixed on their prince ; but their countenances indicated af¬ fection, not fear ; and I could not but observe that he never looked at or spoke to any of them but with kindness. During this visits while we were sitting under 14 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. II. the awning spread over the deck, several captains of his largest vessels, who had just arrived from Bussorah, came on board. The Imam was in the cabin with the Envoy, and before he came out, I was pleased to see the hearty manner in which thèse commanders saluted and were re¬ ceived by almost all on board. " Salám alicum ! " (peace be with you ! ) was heard from all, while every one who met a friend took his right hand, and, after shaking it, raised it as high as his breast. What appeared singular, was the ex¬ tent of this cordial and familiar greeting ; it was not limited by those rules which are found necessary in more civilised societies. The Arab sailor, however low his occupation, exhibited an ease and independence in addressing the commanders, which showed that, as far as the intercourse between man and man was con¬ cerned, he deemed himself his equal. I asked a person sitting near me, if this familiarity did not now and then interfere with discipline ? " No," he answered ; " the line is well under¬ stood, and in cases of deviation there is a severe punishment ; for with us Arabs the right of addressing our superiors, as you have now seen, is our proudest privilege, and its loss, which CHAP. IL] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 15 would be the consequence of the abuse of it, would be deeply felt, both as a privation and a disgrace." The above scene was interrupted by the open¬ ing of the cabin door, and every one fell into his place as the Imam came upon deck. He stoo^ while the commanders, who had returned from their voyage, advanced in their turns, ac¬ cording to their rank, and, taking his extended right hand in both theirs, pressed it, at the same time bending their bodies in a low bow, after which they raised their right hand in salutation to their head, then placing it on their heart, retired backwards. The Imam, after this cere¬ mony was ended, seated himself, desiring us and all his principal officers to do the same. We had a dinner prepared on board, of which the whole party partook ; and when we came away, I was struck, as we passed under the stern of the vessel, by seeing some of the Imam's ladies, among whom was his favourite wife, un¬ veiled, looking at us with eager curiosity. They appeared much pleased, which we imputed to the notice the Envoy had taken of the Imam's sons, two fine boys, each of whom was gratified with appropriate presents. 16 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. II. The view I had taken of the Imam's court— the intercourse we had with him, his sons, and chief officers—the security which I observed merchants and other inhabitants, both Mahome- dan and Hindu, enjoying at Muscat, gave me a very pleasing impression of that place, and I had made a sketch of the manners and customs of the people, no way unfavourable. This I showed one day to a friend, who was a captain in the navy, who, rather to my surprise, burst into a fit of laughter, and said, he could show me a very opposite picture of the same scene. " There is an order from the Admiralty," said he, " that the officers of a man-of-war, when they visit a port little known, should describe the manners and customs of the inhabitants. I have a blunt fellow of a master, an excellent seaman, but who troubles himself very little with matters on shore. Curious to have his observations, and knowing that he had two or three times visited the town of Muscat, I in¬ sisted on his complying with orders, and filling up the column of his journal. He evaded this duty as long as he could : at last, in despair, he went to his cabin, and returning with his book, said, ' There, sir, I have obeyed orders, and you CHAP- II.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA- 17 will find all I could write about these black fel¬ lows, and all they deserve.' I took the journal and read, ' Inhabitants of Muscat. * As to manners, they have none -, and their customs are very beastly.' " This picture of the good master will no doubt be deemed by many truer than mine; and travellers who limit their observations to the busy beach, crowded with slaves, covered with packages of dates, blackened with flies, and scented with putrid salt fish, will be certain to prefer this laconic description of this rude and dirty people ; or supposing them to enter the vile narrow streets of the town, and see (as they may) strings of slaves walking, with a man fol¬ lowing and calling out their prices as he ex¬ hibits them in this ambulatory auction. " Num¬ ber one—handsome young man, five hundred piastres ; number two—a little older, but very healthy and strong, four hundred piastres and so on till he describes his whole string of unhappy bipeds. Who would not turn with indignation and disgust from such filth and abomination ! If, however, we have nerve enough to look VOL. T. r 18 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. II. a little farther into the scene which has been described, we shall find that the reason why houses are crowded upon each other, till clean¬ liness becomes impossible, is because men and their property are protected at this port against injustice and oppression ; and our disgust at the effect will in a great degree be removed by contemplating the cause. Even with regard to the sale of slaves, of which Muscat is the great mart, though the mode of disposing of them appears to justify the master's designation of the inhabitants as " beastly in their customs," yet when we take a comparative view of the fate of the victims of this commerce, from the stain of which our own country is hardly yet purified, and which is still carried on, openly or clandestinely, by almost every power of civilised Europe, we shall be compelled to acknowledge the superior humanity of Asiatic nations. The slave in eastern countries, after he is trained to service, attains the condition of a favoured domestic ; his adoption of the religion of his master is usually the first step which conciliates the latter. Except at a few sea-ports, he is seldom put to hard labour. In Asia there are no fields tilled by slaves, no manufactories CHAP. II.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 19 in which they are doomed to toil ; their occupa¬ tions are all of a domestic nature, and good behaviour is rewarded by kindness and con¬ fidence, which raises them in the community to which they belong. The term gholam, or slave, in Mahomedan countries, is not one of op¬ probrium, nor does it even convey the idea of a degraded condition. The Georgians, Nubians, and Abyssinians, and even the Seedee, or Caf- free, as the woolly-headed Africans are called, are usually married, and their children, who are termed house-born*, become, in a manner, part of their master's family. They are deemed the most attached of his adherents : they often inherit a considerable portion of his wealth ; and not unfrequently (with the exception of the woolly-headed CaiFree) lose, by a marriage in his family, or by some other equally respect¬ able connexion, all trace of their origin. According to the Mahomedan law, the state of slavery is divided into two conditions—the perfect and absolute, or imperfect and privi¬ leged. Those who belong to the first class are, with all their property, at the disposal of their * Khâna-zâdeh. C 2 20 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [X^HAP. II masters. The second, though they cannot, be¬ fore emancipation, inherit or acquire property, have many privileges, and cannot be sold or transferred. A female, who has a child to her master, belongs to the privileged class ; as does a slave, to whom his master has promised his liberty, on the payment of a certain sum, or on his death. The greatest encouragement is given in the Koran*, and by all commentaries on that volume, to the manumission of slaves. Ma¬ homed has said, " Unto such of your slaves as desire a written instrument, allowing them to redeem themselves, on paying a certain sum, write one, if ye know good in them, and give them of the riches of God, which he hath given you." It is in obedience to this precept that pious Mahomedans often grant small pieces of land to a slave, or teach him a profession, that he may, through industry and frugality, attain the means of paying for his freedom, at the same time that he acquires habits which render him worthy of the great gift. Mahomedans are also * Vide Sale's Koran, vol. II. p. 186. CHAP. 11.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. encouraged to manumit their slaves by the law, which gives them a title, as residuary heir, to any property of which the person to whom they may have granted freedom dies possessed. On one point the slaves in Mahomedan coun¬ tries are on a footing with free females : they are only liable, for any crimes they commit, to suffer half the punishment to which a free man would be subject. This law proceeds on the ground of their not being supposed on a par, as to knowledge or social ties, with other parts of the community. The application, however, of this principle of justice to cases where the law awards death or amputation, has puzzled the wise Moullahs, or doctors, who have re¬ sorted to the usual remedy, of writing pon¬ derous volumes upon the subject ; but I do not learn that they have yet discovered a plan by which an offending woman or slave can be punished with the loss of half a life 5 or an opera¬ tion be performed, which will leave them with a half-amputated limb. To return to Muscat : I had visited it at all seasons ; it was now winter, and the climate was pleasant ; in summer the heat is intolerable. Shut out by the hills from every breeze, except SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. II. that which blows directly into the narrow en¬ trance of the cove, there is seldom a breath of air ; and the reflection of the sun, from the bare rocks and white fortifications which overhang the town and harbour, produces a temperature, which is described by a Persian poet as giving to a panting sinner a lively anticipation of his future destiny ! The young Imam, Syed Sayed, was absent on an expedition ; but I regretted this the less, as I had seen his father, who was, in simplicity of manners, good sense, and courage, the equal of his deserving son. Among the first who came on board, I was pleased to see my old friend, Mahomed Gho- loum. Being a good seaman, he had, on the former mission in the year 1800, acted as our pilot from Muscat to Ormus. He was now advanced to be a pilot of the state, being one of the principal ministers of the young Imam, of whose character , he spoke in high praise. " His father," said he, was a brave man ; he was killed in battle ; and if his son goes on ex¬ posing himself every where, he will be killed also. He will regret much not seeing the Envoy, of whose kindness to him when a boy CHAP, IL] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. he retains a grateful recollection ; for be pre¬ serves with great care the model of a seventy- four gun ship, with which he was presented by him." Mahomed Gholoum was not changed by his prosperity, but retained all the frankness and manliness of an Arab sailor. We had many old stories, and at one, in which he was a pro¬ minent actor, he laughed very heartily. He had wished to take our vessel, the Bombay fri¬ gate, to the southward of Or m us ; but as we neared that island, the wind headed us, as the sailors call it, at the same time that it increased to a gale, and our pilot told the captain we had nothing left but to run for the harbour we de¬ sired to make, by steering between the island and the Persian shore. We did so; the weather became worse-—it blew a hurricane ; the chan¬ nel, which is narrow, was missed, and we touched on a mud-bank, where the ship settled for a moment, and the waves dashed over her. The captain ordered more sail, to try and force her through the mud, exclaiming at the same time, " I would rather give a lac of rupees than lose the Company's ship." " Never mind the Com¬ pany's ship," said a passenger, so you land us 24 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [cHAP. II. safe." The seaman in the chains kept heaving the lead, and calling " Quarter less three." " What is the use of your quarter less three," said an impatient landsman, " when the ship is aground?" " That's the captain's business, not mine," said the unconcerned Jack, and again he hove, and again he called " Quarter less three." At this moment my attention was drawn to my friend Mahomed Gholoum, who was appalled by an Irish officer's exclaiming, " I do not understand your vile lingo ; but I will cut your throat (and he sawed with his finger across his windpipe to make him compre¬ hend what he meant), I will cut your throat, you ignoramus, for drowning of gentlemen in this rascally sea." As these scenes were passing, the press of sail which had been put upon our vessel forced her over the bank : a few minutes more saw us safe in the harbour of Ormus, and all our danger forgotten. Mahomed Gholoum, quite exhausted, had, soon after we anchored, fallen asleep on a couch in the captain's cabin ; but he was dream¬ ing of past events, and when I shook him, to make him rise to partake of supper, he started up, and with a wild look called out, " How CHAP. Ii.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 25 many fathom have you ?" We told him to take his seat, and we would teach him, Mahomedan as he was, to fathom a bowl. Soon after our arrival at Muscat, we were visited by men of all nations and colours. I was principally attracted by the appearance and manners of some Arabs from the interior, who were brought on board by their countrymen to see an English ship of war. Their figures were light and elastic, their countenances expressed quickness and energy. The most remarkable of their features were their dark rolling eyes, which perhaps struck me more from their wandering rapidly from one object to another, glistening with wonder at all they saw. A good telescope happened to be placed so as to give a complete view of one of the farthest fortifica¬ tions. I called an Arab to look through it, and he did so for about a minute, then gazed with the most eager attention at me, and, without saying a word, dashed over the ship's side. When the boat he was in got to a little distance, he exclaimed, "You are magicians, and I now see how you take towns j that thing (pointing to the telescope), be they ever so far off, brings them as near as you like." We were much S6 SKETCHES OF PERS^IA. [CHAP. II. amused with his simplicity, but no arguments could prevail on him to return and receive such a lesson on optics as might dispel his delusion in supposing us to be adepts in the black art. The Arabs at Muscat gave a luxuriant de¬ scription of some beautiful valleys about twenty miles from that town ; but the result of minute inquiry forced us to conclude that the green meadows and clear streams they described owed much of their value to their rarity, and that the title of Arabia the Happy is rather founded on the barrenness of the far greater part of this renowned land, than on any thing wonderful either in the climate or productions of the tract to which it is applied. CHAPTER III. the persian gulf and abusheher. When we had fairly entered the Persian Gulf, 1 found myself on classic ground, where all the wonderful adventures of Sinbad the sailor were, what a genuine Yankee would call, located. I sent for an Arabian servant called Khudâdâd, and asked him who were the in¬ habitants of the barren shore of Arabia that we saw. He answered with apparent alarm — " They are of the sect of Wahâbees, and are called Jouassimee ; but God preserve us from them, for they are monsters. Their occupa¬ tion is piracy, and their delight murder ; and to make it worse, they give you the most pious reasons for every villany they commit. They abide^ by the letter of the sacred volume, reject¬ ing all commentaries and traditions. If you are their captive, and offer all you possess to save your life, they say * No ! it is written in the Koran, that it is unlawful to plunder the living, but we are not prohibited in that sacred work from stripping the dead so saying, they 28 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. knock you on the head. But then," continued Khudâdàd, " that is not so much their fault, for they are descended from a Houl, or mon¬ ster, and they act according to their nature." I begged he would inform me about their descent. He seemed surprised at my igno¬ rance, and said it was a story that he thought was known to every one in the world, hut pro¬ ceeded to comply with my request. " An Arab fisherman," said he, " who lived in a village on the Persian Gulf, not far from Gombroon, being one day busy at his usual oc¬ cupation, found his net so heavy that he could hardly drag it on shore. Exulting in his good fortune, he exerted all his strength : hut judge of his astonishment, when, instead of a shoal of fish, he saw in his net an animal of the shape of a man, but covered with hair. He approached it with caution ; but finding it harmless, carried it to his house, where it soon became a favourite ; for, though it could speak no language, and utter no sound except ' houl, houl,' (from whence it took its name), it was extremely docile and intelligent ; and the fisherman, who possessed some property, employed it to guard his flocks. CHAP. III.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 29 " It happened one day, that a hundred Persian horsemen, clothed in complete armour, came from the interior, and began to drive away the sheep. The Houl, who was alone, and had no arms but a club, made signs for them to desist ; but they only scoffed at his unnatural appear¬ ance, till he slew one or two who approached too near him. They now attacked him in a body ; but his courage and strength were sur¬ passed by his activity, and while all fell who came within his reach, he eluded every blow of his enemies ; and they fled after losing half their numbers. " The fisherman and his neighbours, when they heard of the battle, hastened to the aid of the faithful Houl, whom they found in pos¬ session of the horses, clothes, and arms of the vanquished Persians. An Arab of the village, struck with his valour, and casting an eye of cupidity at the wealth he had acquired, offered him the hand of his daughter, who was very beautiful, and she, preferring good qualities to outward appearance, showed no reluctance to become the bride of this kind and gallant mon¬ ster. Their marriage was celebrated with more pomp than was ever before known in the village ; 30 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. and the Houl, who was dressed in one of the richest suits of the Persians he had slain, and mounted on one of their finest horses, looked surprisingly well. He was quite beside himself with joy, playing such antics, and exhibiting such good humour, strength, and agility, that his bride, who had at first been pitied, became the envy of every fisherman's daughter. She would have been more so, could they have fore¬ seen the fame to which she was destined. She had four sons, from whom are descended the four tribes of Ben Jouassim, Ben Ahmed, Ben Nasir, and Ben Saboohil, who are to this day known by the general name of Ben Houl, or the children of Houl. They are all fishermen, boatmen, and pirates, and live chiefly at sea, inheriting, it is believed, the amphibious nature of their common ancestor." After this tale was concluded, I asked Khu- dâdâd what kind of men inhabited those high mountains which we saw rising on the Persian shores of the gulf. Delighted at this second opportunity of showing his knowledge, he re¬ plied, " They also are robbers, but they are not so bad as the Jouassimee. They refer their first settlement in these mountains to the devil ; but CHAP. III.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 31 then they are the children of men, and their nature is not diabolical though their deeds are sometimes very like it." On questioning Khudâdâd further, I found he had the popular story taken from Firdousee *, and that he -kept pretty near to his text ; but I shall give it in his own words :—" You have heard of Zohâk, prince of Arabia?" I said I had. " Well then," he continued, " you know, he was a very wicked man. He conquered Jemsheed, king of Persia, who was in those days deemed the most glorious monarch on earth. After this great success Zohâk was tempted by the devil, who allured him, under the shape of a venerable old man, to kill his father, that he might become king of Arabia as well as Persia. In those days men lived on vegetable diet; but the devil, anxious to destroy as many of the human race as he could, tempted Zohâk with some new roasted eggs, and per¬ ceiving him to relish his food, proposed to cook * Firdousee is the first of the epic poets of Persia, and few countries can boast of a greater genius. His chief work, the Shâh-nâmeh, or Book of Kings, contains, mixed with allegory and fable, almost aU the Persians know of their ancient history. 32 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. him a dish of partridges and quails, with the flavour of which the prince was so delighted, that he hade his friend ask any favour he liked. The wily old man said all he wished was to kiss the shoulders of his beloved monarch. They were bared for that purpose ; but no sooner had the infernal lips touched them, than out sprang from each a hissing ravenous serpent, and at the same time the venerable old man changed to his natural shape, and disappeared in a thunder¬ storm, exclaiming, that human brains alone would satisfy the monsters he had created, and that their death would be followed by that of Zohâk. " It fell out as the devil foretold : the serpents refused all other food, and, for a period, two victims were daily slain to satisfy them. Those charged with the preparation of this horrid re¬ past, seeing the devil's design, determined on frustrating it ; and while they paraded before Zohâk and his serpents the persons who were doomed to death, they substituted the brains of sheep, and sent their supposed human victims to the mountains of Kerman and Lauristan, where they increased, and became a great people, and their descendants still inhabit these CHAP. III.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 33 hills. There can be no doubt,'* said Khudâdâd, gravely, " of the truth of what I have told you ; for it is all written in a book, and a fine poem made upon it, which is called the Shâh-nâmeh, or Book of Kings." Having acquired this correct information about the shores of the gulf, I landed at Abu- sheher a Persian seaport, celebrated as the mart of chintzes and long-ells, of dates and asafoetida. We were met on the beach by the whole population of the town. What appeared to excite most admiration was the light com¬ pany of his majesty's 84th regiment, whose uniform appearance caused no slight wonder. Struck with their similarity of look, one man exclaimed, " These fellows must all have had the same father and mother !" " That cannot be," said another, " for they must all have been born on the same day." " They are proper devils, I '11 warrant them," said an old woman, who had been looking at them very attentively. They had now received the order to march, and the regularity with which their feet moved was a new subject of surprise. An old merchant, * Abusheher is the proper name, but it is better known to Europeans by the abbreviated appellation of Bushire. VOL. I. D 34 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. called Hajee Ismael, whose life had been spent amongst his accounts, and who delighted in every thing that was regular, stood at a corner as they passed in files, and kept saying, as he noted them with his fingers, " correct*, correct, correct." Take it all in all, our landing seemed to give great pleasure to the men, women, and children of the port of Abusheher. We had not been on shore a week before two events occurred, one of which showed what the Persians thought of us, and the other taught us what we should think of them. Before the year 1800 no political mission from an European nation had visited the court of Persia for a century j but the English, though only known in that kingdom as merchants, had fame as soldiers, from the report of their deeds in India. An officer of one of the frigates, who had gone ashore to visit the Envoy, when mounted on a spirited horse, afforded no small entertainment to the Persians by his bad horse¬ manship. The next day the man who supplied the ship with vegetables, and who spoke a little * Hissab," the Persian word, literally means an ac¬ count ; metaphorically, correct, or according to a just account." CHAP. III-l SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 35 English, met him on board and said, " Don't be ashamed, sir, nobody knows you: bad rider! I tell them, you, like all English, ride well, but that time they see you, very drunk!" We were much amused at this conception of our national character. The Persian thought it would have been a reproach for a man of a warlike nation not to ride well, but none for an European to get drunk. The other occurrence was still more cha¬ racteristic. The Envoy or Elchee*, as the Persians called him, had, among other plans for doing good, one for the introduction of potatoes. Among those who listened to him, and applauded his disinterested intentions to benefit Persia, was a fat, smooth-faced young merchant, who obtained a promise of a considerable quantity of potatoes for seed, having (according to his own report) rented a large piece of ground, that he might be an humble instrument in the hands of the British Representative for doing good. The latter, pleased with his zeal, honoured this excellent man with such particular attention, that, conceiving himself a prime favourite, he * Elchee means embassador or representative of a foreign nation. D 2 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. ventured one day to suggest that " As the sea¬ son was too far advanced for the potatoe-garden that year, it would not be unworthy of the Elchee's wonted liberality to commute his in¬ tended present for a pair of pistols, or a piece of British broadcloth." This premature dis¬ closure of the real object of this professed im¬ prover of the soil produced no little ridicule, in which his countrymen, who were jealous of the favour he had enjoyed, joined most heartily. He was known till the day of his death, which happened three years ago, by the name of Pota¬ toes. It is satisfactory to add, that the plan for introducing this valuable root did not fail; they were found to flourish at Abusheher, where they are called " Malcolm's'^ plum," after the Elchee, who looks to the accident which gave his name to a useful vegetable as one of his best chances of enduring fame. The English factory, which had long been at Gombroon, had been removed some years before to Abusheher. All the old servants had ac¬ companied it, and one, of the name of Suffer, had recently died, of whom I was delighted to hear, from the best authority, an anecdote, which * Alou, e, Malcolm. CHAP, III.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 37 did credit to the kindness of our countrymen, while it showed that even in this soil, good usage will generate strong and lasting attachmènt. When poor Suffer, who had been fifty years a servant in the factory, was on his death-bed, the English doctor ordered him a glass of wine. He at first refused it, saying, " I cannot take it; it is forbidden in the Koran." But after a few moments he begged the doctor to give it him, saying, as he raised himself in his bed, " Give me the wine; for it is written in the same volume, that all you unbelievers will be ex¬ cluded from Paradise ; and the experience of fifty years teaches me' to prefer your society in the other world, to any place unto which I can be advanced with my own countrymen." He died a few hours after this sally, which I was glad to observe proved of value to his son, a rough-looking lad name Derveish, who was in¬ troduced by the Resident to the Envoy, at the time the former told the story of the father's attachment. Derveish was taken into service, and I have watched his gradual advancement till he has become the proprietor of a large boat, which is the ne plus ultra of the ambition of an Abusheheree. SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. The natives of this place are almost all of Arab race, and fond of the sea; a propensity the more remarkable, as it is in such strong contrast with the disposition of the Persians, of whom all classes have an unconquerable an¬ tipathy to that element. But this is not the only characteristic distinction between these classes of men, who appear to agree in no¬ thing but in dwelling in the same town. The Persians, who have been tempted by the hope of gain to exchange the fine climate of the ele¬ vated plains of the interior, for the sea-ports on the edge of the sultry desert, which forms the shores of the gulf, retain all the smooth pliant manners of their country; and they look with disgust on what they deem the rude barbarous habits of the Arabians, who are the great body of the inhabitants of this track, and who can scarcely be distinguished, either in look or senti¬ ment, from their kindred on the opposite shore. A remarkable instance of the difference of character, between the lower orders of these two classes, occurred one morning, when the Envoy was preparing a match, to be run by a beautiful English greyhound called Venus, and a strong Arabian dog named Kessâb, or the Butcher. CHAP. III.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 39 He was giving directions to his master of the chase, Hyder, and expressing his sanguine hopes of Venus's success; Mahomed Beg, a tall well- dressed Persian groom, assented to all his an¬ ticipations, saying, " What pretensions can that Arab dog have to run with the beautiful grey¬ hound of the Elchee?" Others joined in the same language, and the opinion appeared general, when an Arab, called Gherreeba*, whose pay was only four piastres t a month, whose chequered turban and cloth round his middle were not worth one, and whose occupation was sitting all day exposed to the sun, watering some grass screens that were placed against the door of the house to exclude the heat—darted up, and, with an eye of fire and the most marked energy, exclaimed, "By the all-powerful God, the Arab dog will triumph J !" Gherreeba was for the moment the repre¬ sentative of the feelings of his country. The * Gherreeb means poor—this man was really so ; but it is not unusual to meet Mahomedans, who are remarkable for their rank, pride, or wealth, with names of similar cha¬ racter, that have been given by their mothers in a spirit of religious humility. t The value of a piastre is about twenty pence. Í Billâh il azeem yadhfar al Arab. 40 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. III. parasites around stood watching the Elchee, and were not a little mortified when they heard him applaud the honest warmth and manly inde¬ pendence of the poor Arab, who was invited to witness the trial. It ended, like most similar trials, in each party being convinced that their own favourite was, or ought to have been, the winner. The dogs ran as usual beautifully: Venus was by far the fleetest ; but the chase, which was after a half grown antelope, proved long, and the strength of the Butcher prevailed towards the close. It is, howevèr, justice to the deer species, while we are praising the canine, to add, that the antelope beat them both. CHAPTER IV. camp at abusheher—horses—abdulla aga— anecdote of arab. Soon after we arrived at Abusheher our camp looked like a fair for horses and mules. It was necessary to mount, not only the Elchee and his suite, but his escort of English and Indian cavalry, and all the servants, public and pri¬ vate; for in Persia nobody walks. To suit the different persons of our party animals of differ¬ ent descriptions were wanted ; from the coarse Persian galloway * to the Arabian of pure strain f, many of which are bred on the Persian shore, with as much attention to preserve the original blood, as imported from Arabia, as could be shown in the first race-studs in England. Hyder, the Elchee's master cf the chase, was the person who imparted knowledge to me on all subjects relating to Arabian horses. He * Yaboo. t Eegee Pâk, the term by which thesp high-bred animals are distinguished, means literally pure veins." 42 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. IV. would descant by the hour on the qualities of a colt that was yet untried, but which, he con¬ cluded, must possess all the perfections of its sire and dam, with whose histories, and that of their progenitors, he was well acquainted. Hy- der had shares in five or six famous brood mares ; and he told me a mare was sometimes divided amongst ten or twelve Arabs, which accounted for the groups of half naked fellows whom I saw watching, with anxiety, the progress made by their managing partner in a bargain for one of the produce. They often displayed, on these occasions, no small violence of temper ; and I have more than once observed a party leading off their ragged colt in a perfect fury, at the blood of Daghee or Shumehtee, or some re¬ nowned sire or grandsire, being depreciated by an inadequate offer, from an ignorant Indian or European. The Arabs place still more value on their mares than on their horses ; but even the latter are sometimes esteemed beyond all price. When the Envoy, returning from his former mission, was encamped near Bagdad, an Arab rode a bright bay horse, of extraordinary shape and beauty, before his tent, till he attracted his notice. CHAP. IV.] SKETCHE;S OF PERSIA. 43 On being asked if he would sell him—** What will you give me ?" said he. " It depends upon his age ; I suppose he is past five ?" " Ouess again," was the reply, " Four." " Look at his mouth," said the Arab, with a smile. On ex¬ amination he was found rising three ; this, from his size and perfect symmetry, greatly enhanced his value. The Envoy said, I will give you fifty tomans*." " A little more, if you please," said the fellow, apparently entertained. * ' Eighty ! —a hundred !" He shook his head and smiled. The offer came at last to two hundred Romans I " Well," said the Arab, seemingly quite satis¬ fied, " you need not tempt me any farther'—it is of no use ; you are a fine Elchee ; you have fine horses, camels, and mules, and I am told you have loads of silver and gold : now," added he, " you want my colt, but you shall not have him for all you have got." So saying he rode off to the desert, whence h« had come, and where he, no doubt, amused his brethren with an account of what had passed between him and the European Envoy. * A toman is a nominal coin nearly the value of a pound sterling. M SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. IV. Inquiry was made of some officers of the Pasha of Bagdad respecting this young man ; they did not know him, but conjectured that, notwithstanding his homely appearance, he was the son or brother of a chief, or perhaps himself the head of a family ; and such Arabs, they said, when in comparative affluence, no money could bribe to sell a horse like the one described. I was one day relating the above story to Ab- dulla Aga, the former governor of Bussorah, who was at Abusheher, having been obliged to fly from Turkey. He told me that, when in authority, he several times had great trouble in adjusting disputes among Arab tribes regarding a horse or mare which had been carried off by one of them from another ; not on account of the value of the animals, that having been often offered ten-fold, but from jealousy of their neigh¬ bour's becoming possessed of a breed of horses which they desired to remain exclusively in their own tribe. An Arab Shaikh or chief, he told me, who lived within fifty miles of Bussorah, had a favourite breed of horses. He lost one of his best mares, and could not for a long time discover whether she was stolen or had strayed. Some time afterwards, a young man of a dif- HAP. IV.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 45 ferent tribe, who had long wished to marry his daughter, but had always been rejected by the Shaikh, obtained the lady's consent and eloped with her. The Shaikh and his followers pur¬ sued ; but the lover and his mistress, mounted on the same horse, made a wonderful march, and escaped. The old chief swore that the fellow was either mounted upon the devil or the fa¬ vourite mare he had lost. After his return he found, on inquiry, the latter was the case ; that the lover was the thief of his mare as well as of his daughter, and that he had stolen the one for the purpose of carrying oif the other. He was quite gratified to think he had not been beaten by a horse of another breed, and was easily re¬ conciled to the young man, in order that he might recover the mare, which appeared an object about which he was more solicitous than his daughter. Abdulla Aga is a man in whose company I take great pleasure. His understanding is vigorous and strong, and he has sufficient know¬ ledge of the English character to speak his sen¬ timents with freedom and confidence. I shall give the substance of a conversation I had with him about two weeks after my arrival, regarding 46 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. IV. the present condition of Persia and Turkey, with the resources and character of both which states he is intimately acquainted. Speaking of Turkey, he said he had no idea of its having the power to resist the slightest attack ; and, he be¬ lieved, if left alone, it would soon fall to pieces of itself.—" I am myself a Turk, and know my countrymen well : from the Grand Signier to the lowest peasant in the empire, they are alike devoid of public virtue and patriotism ; and that spirit of religion, which has long been the only bond of union that has kept this unwieldy state together, is every day becoming fainter ; and while the Wahâbees are making converts of the inhabitants of Arabia and Syria, the pro¬ vinces of Turkey in Europe are relaxing from their religious zeal, and becoming every day more ripe for the rule of those Christian nations, under whose power they must soon fall." I could not help saying, I thought he drew an overcharged picture of the weak and distracted state of his country. " You will soon see," he said, " whether I am right or wrong. No man, whatever may be his rank, looks beyond his beard in Turkey : if he can find any expedient that gives him a prospect of its growing grey in CHAP. IV.] SKETCHES OF PERSIA. 47 quiet, he is content ; and where all are so de¬ cidedly selfish in their views, who is to provide for the safety of the state, to guard which there must be some common sentiment of union ?" ** What think you of Persia ?" I asked« " Why, twenty times worse than of Turkey," replied he ; " because they are to the full as de¬ void of every public principle, and much more ignorant. Believe me, you will soon be satis¬ fied that they deserve this character. Can there be a doubt, at the present moment, how they ought to act between you and the French ? and yet you will be able to settle nothing with them that is in the least satisfactory, without heavy bribes or harsh measures. The latter," he added, " will be the wisest in the present in¬ stance ; for to feed their cupidity is only to whet their appetite, and to encourage them in a course that will, in its result, prove as injurious to these short-sighted fools as to the interests of the English government." " The Elchee's intentions are so friendly," I observed in reply, " and his wishes so corre¬ spond with their true interests, that they must, I think, meet them, when all the advantages are explained." " Before you anticipate success 48 SKETCHES OF PERSIA. [CHAP. IV- from such an explanation, you should be cer¬ tain that those to whom you speak have sense to comprehend you, which the Persians certainly have not. They think of nothing at this mo¬ ment but the Russians, with whom they have discovered they are not able to contend. The French pretend to relieve them from this for¬ midable danger, which they have not themselves the courage to face ; and they cling to this promise without ever considering how far those who make it have the means of performing it. They neither understand the nature nor distance of the resources of England or France, and are consequently incapable of forming a correct idea of the comparative power which those states pos¬ sess of aiding or injuring them. They know that Bombay is within a month's sail, Madras six weeks, and Calcutta two months ; and they believe you have some ships at these places -, but even of these they have no clear idea; and as to Europe, they are as ignorant as an Abyssinian." " Assuredly," said I, " you underrate their knowledge." " 1 do not," said Abdullaj " they are worse than I have painted them, and their ignorance is so fortified by pride, that there is r