At length we entered the main body of the building, which, like all other Persian houses, consists of a large square court lined on all sides with rooms of various dimensions and uses. The choicest apartment of the whole is a small one, placed in the very summit of the building, where every species of native workmanship in painting, glazing, and Mosaic, has been collected. We found here portraits of women, Europeans as well as Persians. The glass is beautifully painted, and the doors are prettily worked and inlaid with poetical quotations carved in ivory. From this there is a delightful view of the town and country. In the other rooms below, there are several pictures of the King and his favourites; one of the subjects is singular, as it represents His Majesty in the costume of a sick man.

The whole of this place is of brick, except the exterior wall, which is mud, flanked however by brick turrets. It is much inferior in workmanship to any of the brick buildings either of Kerim Khan, or of the Seffis. The soil on which it is erected is indeed ill-adapted to the purpose, as it is salt; and the salt oozes out through the walls, and materially undermines their solidity.

The King is building another summer residence, half a mile from the town, called the Negaristan. One house is finished, consisting however of only an arched room, in which are various channels for water and playing fountains. In the garden we found water cresses, of the eatableness of which the Persians appeared totally ignorant.

The climate of Teheran is variable, in consequence of its situation at the foot of high mountains, which on the other side are backed by such a sea as the Caspian. For the earlier part of our stay it was moderate; till the 10th of March the thermometer, which was suspended near an open window in a room unexposed to the sun, was at 51° Fahrenheit. On the 10th, throughout the whole day, there was much snow; indeed on the following morning, when the thermometer was at 47°, the heat of the sun produced a partial thaw, which was succeeded by a frost so sharp, that before the close of the day, an officer of the suite, who weighed fourteen stone, was able to walk and slide upon a square reservoir before the Dewan Khonéh, even though the surface had been already broken at one corner. The fall of snow was a seasonable supply of moisture to the country, which had long been without any. On the new moon of March (the 15th of the month) the rain begun, and for some days continued regularly, clearing up about four or five hours before sun-set, and gathering again at night. From the height of the walls which surrounded us, and the want of weathercocks or chimnies, I could collect but imperfectly the quarter of the wind; but, as far as I could judge, it was generally from the S. E. There is a wind sometimes rushing from the Albores on the N. of the bleakness of which the natives speak with dread. From the 23d March (the first quarter of the moon) we had the true ethereal mildness of spring, with light breezes from the westward in the evening. Vegetation was making rapid advances: the rose-trees in the court of our house were already green, and the chenars had just begun to bud. The snow on the Albores was diminishing fast; and the weather generally, which sometimes lowered and then brightened up, was that of an English spring. The thermometer was about 61° to 64°, but in the middle of the day it reached 75°, and the heat in the close streets of the town was very sensible. In the first week of April the mornings were beautiful; but about noon a hot wind set in from the S. E. which increased towards the evening, and died away at night. About the second week the weather became cooler. Every thing was in high foliage, and all our horses were at grass. The heat was then becoming great: on the 19th the thermometer was at 82° in the shade, and at night we had thunder and lightning with a thick haze over the Albores. On the 21st the temperature, which in the interval had been at 86°, sunk to 67°. On the night of the 20th there had been a storm; and on the dawn of day we discovered that the Albores, which before had lost their snow, were again covered. These transitions are common to situations like that of Teheran. The rain refreshed the air, and gave strength to the grass, which in the more immediate neighbourhood of the town requires much moisture to enable it to pierce the hardness of the soil. From this time the days continued cool, with rain and frequent storms; and the evenings became almost piercing; but the showers gave a new force to vegetation.

Teheran is considered an unwholesome situation. The town is low and built on a salt, moist soil. In the summer the heats are said to be so insufferable, that all those who are able (all perhaps except a few old women) quit the town and live in tents nearer the foot of the Albores, where it is comparatively cool. We had several illnesses in our family, which we attributed to the water. The symptoms were an obstinate constipation with great gripings, a disorder very common in the place. Our head Persian writer was long laid up with a fever, which brought him to the point of death. He was bled copiously six times in six days. These people put no faith in our medicines, and therefore he would not allow the Physician of the Mission to visit him. At length however he was persuaded by a “fall” which he took in Hafiz, and which pointed out, that he should “trust in the stranger.” The superstitious faith with which the Persians observe these falls is inconceivable: the oracle consists in taking the book of Hafiz, wherever it may chance to open, and reading the passage on which the eyes first happen to alight. That, by which the attention is thus attracted, is the prediction. Before they open the book, they make certain invocations to God. Dr. Jukes accordingly prescribed; but his patient I believe disregarded his advice; and we were despairing about him, when we were told that the King’s physician had been with him, and had given him a water-melon to eat, and that the sick man was now recovering. The theory of Persian medicine is somewhat that of Galen: they attribute all sickness to one of two causes, heat or cold. If the patient is supposed to suffer from much heat, they bleed him beyond measure; if from cold, they give him cathartics in the same proportion.

In the belief of Persia there is another and a simpler remedy for malady. Nor perhaps is the credulity confined to Persia: there is I suspect a more general superstition, that to relieve disease or accident, the patient has only to deposit a rag on certain bushes, and from the same spot to take another which has been previously left from the same motive by a former sufferer.

In the time of the Seffis there was also another superstition in Persia, which perhaps is not wholly extinct at this day. Every one who has read Chardin, will remember the history of the coronation of Shah Suleyman, who, because his original name was considered unlucky, was renamed and recrowned.

The fruits which were in season at Teheran in the month of March, and which were served to us every day at dinner, were pomegranates, apples, pears, melons, limes, and oranges. The pomegranates came from Mazanderan, and were really here a luscious fruit, much superior to any that I have seen in Turkey. They were generally twelve inches in circumference. The vegetables were carrots, turnips, spinach and beet-root. Hives are kept all over the country, and we had at Teheran the finest honey that I ever ate, though that of Shiraz is reckoned better, and that of Kauzeroon (which the bees cull from the orange-groves) is considered as still superior. Our mutton was excellent, and very cheap; for a sheep costs two piastres only. The beef was sometimes good; but as their meat is not deemed desirable in Persia, oxen are not kept or fattened for the purposes of the table. We eat a hare which had been caught by a man in the plain, and which we afterwards coursed with our greyhounds. The Persians regard this flesh as unclean in opposition to the Turks, who eat it without scruple.

In April we got delicious herrings from the Caspian, which appears the proper sea for them. They are much larger than those which we have on the English coasts, and are called by the Persians the shah mahee, “king of fishes.” In the end of that month we received a fresh salmon of twenty-five pounds from the same sea also, as a present from the Ameen-ed-Doulah. The Persians call it kizzel or golden: it was to the palate as good as any English salmon, though with some of us it did not agree quite so well.

From the account which the Prime Minister gave us of a stone which is burnt in Mazanderan, there must be coals of the finest kind in that province. Among the products of Persia are gum tragacanth, assafœtida, yellow berries, henna (coarser than that of Egypt,) madder roots, which grow wild upon the mountains, and are brought down for sale by the Eelauts or wandering tribes; the Hindoos only export it as returns. Indigo is cultivated for the dying of linen and of beards, and grows about Shooster Desfoul, near Kherat, and in the Laristan. It is not so fine as the indigo from India, which indeed is a great article of the import trade of Persia. They use the leaf only for their beards. There is no cochineal. Cotton is produced enough for the interior consumption of the country. The best manufacture which they make is a cotton cloth, called the kaduck; of this there is an exportation to Turkey. The finest is manufactured at Ispahan. The great and richest produce is the silk of Ghilan and Mazanderan. The manufacturing towns of Persia are Yezd, silken stuffs, stuffs of silk and cotton; Kashan, silks and copper ware; Koom, earthenware; Resht, silks, coarse woollen cloths of which the tekmis are made; Shiraz, swords, fire-arms, and glass-ware; Ispahan, brocades, cotton clothes; Kermanshah, arms; Kerman, shawls.

4th of May. The most beautiful part of the plain about Teheran is that to the S. E. The verdure, when I left the country, was most luxuriant; and the whole animated by peasantry and their cattle. Yet though the spring was thus far advanced, the mountain Demawend (whenever the clouds, which almost always concealed it, rolled away) appeared more than ever covered with snow. The direct distance to it from Teheran is about forty miles; to the base of the first mountain is reckoned fourteen miles. We had seen it when it was at least one hundred and fifty miles from us; and were told indeed, as I have remarked before, that it might be seen from the top of the minaret of the Mesjid Shah, at Ispahan, a distance of two hundred and forty miles. It is visible from Resht, and generally along all the south of the Caspian sea; and it is therefore very credible that that sea, which is not more than forty miles from the base, may be seen from the summit, of Demawend. But, according to some accounts, no one ever gained the top; according to others, there is a horse-road through the whole ascent. I was told at Tabriz, by a man of Mazanderan, that he himself knew several who had reached the summit; and, indeed, that Derveishes, led by the information of their books, resorted thither from India to cull a certain plant convertible into gold, and tinging with a golden hue the teeth of the sheep that feed upon the mountain. At the foot of the Albores are many villages and pleasure-houses, and much cultivation; all the rest of the country in that direction is a blank with scarcely a shrub.

On the east side of the plain of Teheran there is an elevated road of a fine bottom running N. and S. which seems to have been connected with the city of Rey. On the 4th of March we visited the ruins of Rey. They are situated about five miles in a south direction from Teheran, and extend as far as the eye can reach over the plain, E. and W. To the E. at the foot of a projecting range, which branches from the Albores, are the remains of the citadel; consisting of walls and turrets, built of mud bricks, which in most places are distinguished with difficulty from mounds of earth. The mass of the height, on which it is erected, seems rather of earth than of rock. Near the foot of the citadel stands a tower, which by our hasty calculation may be about fifty feet in height. It is built of a very fine species of brick, cemented by mortar. Its exterior is arranged in twenty-four triangular compartments, the base of each being about five feet, giving a circumference of one hundred and twenty feet. On the summit, between two rows of ornaments in brick, is an inscription in the Cuffick character; the letters of which are formed by small inlaid bricks. The interior was so full of straw and other rubbish, that we could not explore it; the door is to the eastward. The style of building resembles much that of the Seffis; with this difference, that the bricks are put together with a greater portion of mortar, and are of a rather darker colour. About three miles to the Southward on an insulated hill are other buildings, and a turret of the same style as the one just described; and between both is a round tower of stone, with a Cuffick inscription in brick-work. In this turret we observed through a window, that there was a winding staircase in the wall, but we could not find the entrance to it.

Still further on, on the brow of a hill close under the mountain, is a building, partly of ancient and partly of modern construction; this is the tomb of one of the wives of Imaum Hossein. It is composed of two courts and two inner rooms; three old women officiate here over the remains of their female saint. There is much running water all around; part issues from a spring, which gushes out from under a rock. The mountains are arid, with surfaces indicating much mineral below.

Rey is the Rhages of Tobit, and is the city where Alexander rested five days in his pursuit after Darius; after he had made a march of eleven days from Ecbatana or Hamadan. Arrian calls this city one day’s journey from the Caspian Streights.

Rey was reduced by Hubbe, the general of Jenghiz Khan; and from its scattered population arose the town of Teheran. Near the ruins is still a village called Shah Abdul Azeem, with a Zeeauret or place of worship.

Of ancient Persia I learned little. Currimabad is, perhaps, the Corbiana of geography. Near Shiraz is a Bolouk of eighteen villages, called Fasa, from its chief place, which itself is about five or six menzils or thirty-five fursungs from Shiraz, and about nineteen from Persepolis. From Fasa to Firouzabad is four menzils; perhaps twenty fursungs. The ruins at both, and indeed in the line between them are great.

A native of Fasa, whom I questioned on the subject, told me that the remains at his city were considered more wonderful than any thing at Persepolis, except the columns. There are great stones with Persepolitan inscriptions. There is a large mound of earth, which, according to the people of his country, was transported by Turks from Turkish territory. The thaubet or government of this place is the most lucrative and respectable about the region.

Jaffier Ali, Resident for the English nation at Shiraz, informed me that the number of the Guebres (worshippers of fire) decrease annually in Persia. They are so reviled and distressed by the government that either they become converts to Mahomedanism, or emigrate to their brethren in India. Their Atech-gau, or chief fire-temple, a large excavation in the ground, in which the sacred element was preserved, was at Firouzabad, seventeen fursungs South East of Shiraz. The orifice is now closed; and the fire indeed, according to a Mahomedan doctor, was extinguished on the day of the birth of his prophet. The remains at Firouzabad attest the former importance of that city. Yezd is now the great seat of the Guebres and of their religion; but they are more poor and more contemned in Persia, than the most miserable of the Jews in Turkey. The works of Zoroaster were collected by his disciple Jamaz, into a book thence called the Jamaz Namah, which is now most scarce.

II. The only hereditary title in Persia is Mirza or Meerza. The derivation of which word is from Emir (Ameer a nobleman) and Zadé a son, &c. This species of nobility is traced very far, and is not creative. The title descends to all the sons of the family, without exception. In the Royal family it is placed after the name instead of before it, thus, Abbas Mirza and Hossein Ali Mirza. Mirza is a civil title, and Khan is a military one. The title of Khan is creative, but not hereditary: the sons of Khans are called Aga or Esquire, which is a Tartar title, and more common to Turkey than to Persia. The creation of Khan is attended with few ceremonies, and those very simple. The King sends a kalaat or dress of honour to the person so created, and on his investiture the King gives him a firman announcing to all persons that the bearer of it is forthwith a Khan; and this firman is worn three days on the top of the turban. Any person who derides this patent or who refuses to call the bearer of it by his title, is liable to the penalty of death.

The title of Mirza does not hinder the possessor from receiving that of Khan also; and then the name runs, for example, thus, Mirza Hossein Ali Khan.

The different ranks of civil governors are—1st. The Beglerbeg, who generally resides in the large cities, and controuls the province around: 2d. The Hakim; and 3d. the Thaubet, who severally govern a city or a town: 4th. The Kelounter, who, besides the real governor, resides in every city, town and village, and superintends the collection of the tribute: 5th. The Ket Khoda, who is the chief of a village: 6th. The Pak-kar, who is servant or Hommes d’Affaires to the Ket Khoda, and who transacts the business with the Rayat or peasant. The Pak-kar accounts with the Ket Khoda, and he again with the Kelounter.

The Kelounter is a man of consequence wherever he presides; he is an officer of the crown, and once a-year appears before the Royal presence, an honour which is not permitted to the Ket Khoda. He also receives wages from the King’s treasury, which the Ket Khoda does not. The Kelounter is the medium through which the wishes and wants of the people are made known to the King: he is their chief and representative on all occasions, and brings forward the complaints of the Rayats, whenever they feel oppressed. He also knows the riches of every Rayat, and his means of rendering the annual tribute: he therefore regulates the quota that every man must pay; and if his seal be not affixed to the documents which the Rayat brings forward in the time of the levy, the assessment is not valid, and the sum cannot be received.

The three principal branches of the tribute which the people pay are 1st. Maleeat; 2d. Sader; and 3d. Peish-Kesh.

The Maleeat is the hereditary original right of the crown, and consists in produce and money. The King gets in kind one-fifth of the produce of the land, i. e. of wheat, barley, silk, tobacco, indigo, &c. and articles of that description: and one-fifth in money of all the vegetables, fruit, and lesser produce of the earth, which the proprietor may sell. Though the proportion be paid in kind, yet it is assessed, not by the actual levy of every fifth sheaf, &c. but by an indirect criterion of produce, deduced from the number of oxen kept by the landholder; and this part of the revenue is collected accordingly by a corresponding rate imposed upon the growth of the land. Thus the possessor of twelve oxen is supposed to possess also an extent of land, the cultivation of which may require that number, and is therefore assessed to pay a quantity of corn proportioned to the assumed amount of his gross receipt.

The King collects one-fifth also in money of all the vegetables, fruits, and lesser produce of the earth, which the proprietor may sell. Formerly these tributes, either in kind or in money, were only one-tenth: but their amount has been doubled by the present King.

The inhabitants of towns pay according to an assessment imposed on the place, and founded on the number of houses which it may contain, and not according to their individual means. And this levy on any particular town is but a part only of that charged on the district which contains it; thus Ispahan, which for instance has Koom and Kashan within its administration, is required to furnish a specified sum, of which it pays part, and divides the rest among the secondrate towns, which again subdivide their own proportions among the villages around; and collect, each in their gradations, the appointed amount of the tribute, and transfer the whole to the Royal treasury. The government requires that the collector of any given district should supply a stated sum, but it permits him likewise to add, as his own profit, whatever he can further exact. Most of these offices are bought and sold. By the amount therefore of the purchase is regulated the rate of oppression. The scale descends; every minor agent is expected to accomplish an appointed task; but is left to choose his own means, and to have no other controul but his own conscience. This is the practice, whatever may be the theory of the administration of the revenue.

The Sader is an arbitrary tax, and is the most grievous to the Rayat. It admits every species of extortion, and renders the situation of the peasant extremely precarious. This impost is levied on particular occasions, such as the passage of any great man through the country, the local expences of a district, or on other opportunities which are continually recurring; so that the Rayat is never certain of a respite. It is assessed in the same manner upon the number of oxen which he may keep. Thus, if sheep are wanted, he who keeps one ox is obliged to give a sheep, and so on with every other demand which may be made.

The Peish-Kesh. This is called indeed a voluntary gift, but it must be offered every year at the festival of the Norooz; and like the regular taxes, is required in the same proportion, according to the means of the people.

By these taxations the condition of the cultivators is rendered more particularly wretched. On the contrary, the merchants are less oppressed than any class in Persia. The shop-keeper indeed (dukiandar) pays tribute; but the proper merchant, (sodager) a distinct order, pays nothing at all to the state, except the duties of the customs, which are comparatively very small, being about one-tenth on the imports; and as they are not affected by any other imposition, they are the most wealthy part of the community.

Landed property in Persia is hereditary, and is known by the name of waky. But on the delinquency of its proprietor, it may be seized by the King, and is then called Zapté Shah. It remains annexed to the crown, until the family are again restored, when the estate, according to the pleasure of the Sovereign, may be returned. The King, while he retains such property, generally allows a portion of its produce to the relatives of the former owner, and this allowance is called Moustemeree. Besides the Zapté Shah there are the Halissé or crown lands, that from time immemorial have belonged to the Kings of Persia. They are cultivated by tenants, who defray all the expences, cattle, implements of agriculture, &c. and divide the net profits with the King.

At the death of Kerim Khan, the Royal treasury was nearly empty; but at the death of the late King Aga Mahomed Khan, it is said to have contained fifteen crore of tomauns. Since the times of Kerim Khan the value of bullion has increased greatly; the miscal of gold was then five piastres, it is now eight and a half; that of silver was three hundred dinars, it is now five hundred; and every year the price increases in some small degree. Provisions and labour have of course corresponded in proportion. There is no prohibition against the melting, or the exportation of the precious metals. Every one may convert his own bullion into any use. If he wishes to have his gold coined, he can send it to the mint to be struck into any piece of money; paying the value of a pea’s weight of gold for every tomaun. The right of coinage is secured to particular towns by firmans from the King. Most of the gold is clipped, as every Jew pares a little off. The shopkeepers also contrive to rub the coin on a black stone to try the purity of the metal; by this operation small particles remain on the stone, which are extracted with care, and reserved till a sufficient quantity for a coin be collected. Most of the silver in circulation comes originally from a very fine silver mine in Bokhara. There is another also in Aderbigian, and another near Shiraz, the latter of which is neglected, as the expences have been found to exceed the produce. The King’s treasure is reported, probably with much truth, to be immense. The Persians indeed affirm, that all the money, which is received into the Royal coffers, remains there and never again gets into circulation. In a country so poor as Persia, in which there are so few people of any capital, the absorption of a million or a much smaller sum would be immediately felt. If therefore all the sums, which are annually poured into the King’s treasure, had remained a dead stock in his hands, there would not now have been a single piece of gold in Persia. There is no corresponding influx of bullion. Persia exports yearly three hundred and fifty thousand tomauns in specie to India; to meet this drain there is indeed an inadequate supply from their trade with Russia, which purchases with gold all the silk of Ghilan; and again with Turkey, which pays in gold for all the shawls and the little silk which it exports from Persia. Yet it is possible that the King may reserve two-thirds of his receipts; and expend the remainder only, perhaps half a crore of tomauns. This supposition derives some probability, as well from the increase in the value of bullion as from the accounts of the treasures of Aga Mahomed; and further from the common belief of Persia, that a large proportion of the regular expences of the royal establishment are defrayed by the Ameen-ed-Doulah, from sources connected with his office and power. Thus he pays the household, and clothes the servants; he supplies a part of the kalaats at the Norooz; he furnishes the maintenance of the King’s children, and clothes for the new-born infants, and necessaries for the mother. In Persia, when a woman is five months in her pregnancy, she provides clothes for her expected offspring: in this situation the King’s wives send to the Ameen-ed-Doulah a list of all the articles which they may want; and which, frequently at a large cost, he is obliged to produce on the spot. For this purpose he keeps in his house a magazine stored with every description of dress for every age. Every year he is obliged to build new rooms in the King’s Seraglio for the women whom his Majesty may chance to add to his numbers; and for each of these rooms he provides a silver manzal or fire-pan, a lamp and two candlesticks of silver, basins, ewers, dishes, plates, &c. and all of silver. To answer these immense demands, the range of his exactions may well be believed to be unbounded.

The aggregate of the population of Persia is divided into tribes, part of which live in fixed habitations, and others (the larger proportion indeed, and all the Arabs) live in tents. These tribes never emigrate from their own districts, but all have their winter and summer regions; in the former pitching their tents in the plain, in the latter on the summits and declivities of their mountains. To these districts they adhere strictly, as the line of demarcation for the pasturage of their flocks has been observed from ages the most remote. Each has its records, and can trace its genealogy to the first generation. The most considerable and renowned are the Baktiar, that spread themselves over the province of Irauk; the Failee, that live about the mountains of Shooster or Susa, and extend their frontiers to those of the Baktiars; the Affshars, that live near the lake of Shahee; the Lacs, that are near Casvin.

All the tribes pay tribute. When the King calls upon them for purposes of war, all (excepting the Arabs and the Failee tribe) are obliged to send a proportion of men, who are always ready at his summons.

The names of every one of such men, the names of their fathers, and other particulars of their family, are all registered in the Defter Khona at the seat of government; and at the feast of the Norooz, they attend the King to inquire whether their services for that year are required: if required, they wait the encampment of his Majesty; if not, they are permitted to return, but in either case they receive a stated pay. This is one of the oldest customs in Persia, recorded in their histories from time immemorial. Each tribe has its chief, who is always a Khan, and one of their own race. He generally remains with his people, and has a Vakeel at the capital, who attends daily at the Der-a-Khonéh, and transacts all the business of his principal. He would be the Baron of feudal times, if he were not liable to lose his post at the will of the King. Mr. Bruce informed me that there still exists in Persia an ancient custom, in cases of emergency, of requiring from every mill (the wheel of which is turned by water) a man and horse armed and accoutred for the field; and of these they reckon one hundred thousand. The reason assigned for the King’s never requiring the attendance of the Failees on his military expeditions is, that in time of old (some say the reign of the famous King Caioum) the Failees fled and lost the battle; and incurred upon themselves and their posterity this interdiction of military service for ever. The people of Ispahan and of Kashan, who either urged or joined the flight of the Failees, were included in the same prohibition; and to this day bear the epithet of arrant cowards, more happy perhaps to live a quiet life at home, than to attempt to regain the reputation of brave men by fighting abroad.

The supplies which are sent receive pay from the King, as well as arms and horses; and when in actual service are fed at the King’s expence. When he no longer wants them they are dismissed to their own homes. The tribes compose the whole military force of the kingdom, except the King’s body-guards, who are never disbanded, and form the standing army of the country. Each Prince Governor of the provinces has also his body-guard, which, in like manner, is never disbanded.

The provinces of Aderbigian, Khorassan, Fars, Kerman, part of Irauk towards Irauk Arabi, are all governed by the King’s sons. The Prince of Aderbigian, it is said, can raise from his different tribes fifty thousand horse and foot, over which the King has no direct controul; but which, in case of war, He can call into action by requiring the attendance of his son with all his forces.

In the same manner the Prince Governor of Khorassan can raise from his tribes twenty thousand horse and foot. The Prince of Fars has likewise a similar command; but his troops have never been summoned to assist the King in his wars, as they are always left for the protection of the Southern parts of Persia. The province of Mazanderan sends twenty thousand horse and foot to the King. As the Qujars or Cadjars, the King’s own tribe, are resident in this province, He looks upon this force as his particular safeguard. This tribe is considered the most ancient and honoured in Persia: they reckon among themselves four Kings—Fath Ali Shah, who was killed by Shah Thamas; Hassan Khan, who was killed by Kerim Khan; Aga Mahomed; and the present King, his nephew and successor. Of this tribe there are two races; the first is the Yokaree Bash, of which the King’s family and that of the mother of the Heir apparent are both sprung; the second is the Asheea Bash. The nobility of the King’s progeny varies much according to that of the mothers.

The two great tribes are the Baktiari and the Failee. They consist of one hundred thousand families each, which, at five persons in a family, makes two totals of five hundred thousand souls. The Baktiars, of all the tribes, send the most troops to the King’s service. The King’s body-guard consists of twelve thousand men, half of whom are disciplined in the European manner, and are called Jan-baz, in contra-distinction to those raised and disciplined by the Princes, (and particularly Abbas Mirza, Governor of Aderbigian,) who are called Ser-baz. “Jan-baz” means one who plays away his soul; “Ser-baz” means one who plays away his head only.

The Twelve thousand who form the King’s body-guard are taken indiscriminately from the tribes, or from the population of the cities, but principally from Mazanderan and the tribes connected with the King’s own race. They have their families and homes at Teheran, and in the neighbouring villages, and are ready at every call. They are divided into bodies of three thousand men and do duty by turns in the King’s palace, called the Ark. They are called Kechekchees or Guards, and every such body has a Ser Kechekchee, or Head of the Guard, who always attends when his corps is on duty; and on the relief of the guard a Mirza belonging to the corps reads over every man’s name, and in case of non-attendance the defaulter receives punishment. These Ser Kechekchees are men of so much family and distinction, that one of the King’s own sons enjoys the dignity. The Kechekchees are distributed in all parts of the palace, and are always seen on guard on the the towers of the Ark. Their watch-word is “hazir, or ready,” which they continually pass from one to the other. They are a distinct body from the Kechekchees of the city, who are solely attached to the police office, and do the duty of our watchmen, with this difference, that they have a right to ascend the tops of the houses in their midnight rounds.

Besides this body-guard of twelve thousand, the King has three thousand Goulams or slaves, who are horsemen and always attend him when he makes an excursion. All these people, both horse and foot, are paid, fed, clothed, armed and mounted at the King’s expence. Goulam (slave) is here figuratively used to express their devotion to the King’s service; for they are not in reality entered into a state of servitude by actual purchase: on the contrary, they are particularly honoured by the King, and his own favourite Ismael Beg is their commander. This chief is one of those who still exercise the noose with great skill; it is called kummund, and there are some instances of its being still used in their engagements.

DRESS.

The dress of the Persians is much changed since the time of Chardin. It never possessed the dignity and solidity of the Turkish dress, and much less now than ever. So materially indeed have their fashions altered, that in comparing with the modes of the present day, the pictures and descriptions in Chardin and Le Brun, we can recognize no longer the same people. It is extraordinary that an Asiatic nation, so much charmed by show and brilliancy, (as the Persians have always been supposed to be), should have adopted for their apparel the dark and sombre colours, which are now universal among all ranks. In the reign of the Zund Family indeed, light colours were much in vogue; but the present Race, perhaps from a spirit of opposition, cherish dark ones. A Persian therefore looks a most melancholy personage, and resembles much some of the Armenian Priests and Holy Men, whom I have seen in Turkey. Browns, dark olives, bottle greens, and dark blues, are the colours mostly worn. Red they dislike; and it is singular that this is a hue, which fashion seems to have discarded even in the countries far beyond the Northern and Eastern confines of Persia; for the merchants of Bokhara, who come down annually to Bushire to buy cloths, totally disregard scarlets, and for that colour will not give any thing like the price, which they will pay for others.

Although the climate requires full as much clothing as that of Turkey, I did not find in my stay among them, that the Persians clothed themselves by any means so warmly as the Turks. As the cold increases, the Turk increases the number of his pelisses, till in the progress of the winter I have frequently seen a small and puny man expand into a very robust and athletic figure: but the Persian’s wardrobe does not thus extend over him as the season advances.

The following is a general catalogue of the articles of their dress:—1. The zeer jumah: a pair of very wide trowsers, either of red silk or blue cotton, reaching below the ancle, and fastened by a string which passes through the top, and is tied before. 2. The peera hawn: a shirt generally of silk, which, going over the trowsers, reaches a few inches below the hips, and is fastened by two buttons over the top of the right shoulder. It goes close round the lower part of the neck, where it is sometimes ornamented by a ribband or thin cord of silk. The opening of the shirt extends to the bottom of the ribs. 3. The alcalock: a tight vest, made of chintz, and quilted with cotton, which ties at the side, and reaches as low as the thin part of the calf of the leg. It has sleeves extending to the wrist, but open from the elbow. 4. The caba: which is a long vest descending to the ancle, but fitting tight to the body as far only as the hips: it then buttons at the side. The sleeves go over those of the alcalock, and from the elbow are closed by buttons only, that they may be opened thus far for the purpose of ablution, when the namaz or prayer is said. There is another species of caba, called the bagalee, which crosses over the breast, and fastens all down the side by a range of buttons to the hip. This is generally made of cloth, or of shawl or cotton quilted, and, as the warmer, is most used in winter. 5. The outer coat is always made of cloth, and is worn or thrown off according to the heat of the weather. Of this dress, there are many sorts:—the tekmeh; which has sleeves open from the elbow, but which are yet so fashioned as to admit occasionally the lower part also of the arm. These sleeves are generally permitted to hang behind. The coat itself is quite round, buttons before, and drops like a petticoat over the shawl that goes round the waist. The oymeh, which is like the tekmeh, except that from the hips downwards, it is open at the sides. The baroonee, which is a loose and ample robe with proportionally ample arms, generally made of cloth and faced with velvet, and thrown negligently over the shoulders. 6. Over the caba, comes the shâl kemer, which is the bandage round the waist. This is made either of Cashmirian shawl, or of the common shawl of Kerman, or of English chintz, or of flowered muslin. The proper size is about eight yards long, and one broad. To this is fastened (by a string neatly tied around it) a kunjur, or dagger, ornamented according to the wealth of the possessor, from an enameled pummel set in precious stones, to a common handle of bone and wood. 7. Besides the outer clothes, which I have just mentioned, they have also coats trimmed with fur. Such is the catebee, which is an uncommonly rich dress, covering the whole of the body, with fur over the back and shoulders, fur at the cuffs, and fur inside. It is made of cloth of gold and brocades, with large ornaments of gold lace in front, and forms altogether the most dignified among the habits that I remarked in Persia. 8. They have also a short jacket, called the coordee, which fits close to the body, but with loose flaps as low as the commencement of the swell of the thigh. 9. The warmest of their dresses is a sheep-skin with the fur inside, and the leather part outside. It is called, from its sudorific qualities, the hummum or bath, but it is more generally named the pooshtee or skin. It is an ugly and unpleasant article. The better sheep-skins come from Bokhara, and are covered with the finest wool certainly that I ever saw.

The head-dress of every Persian from the King to his lowest subject, is composed of one substance, and consists of a black cap about one foot and a half high. These caps are all jet black, and are all made of skins of the same animals. The finest are taken from the lamb, in the first moments of its birth; and they decrease in value down to the skin of the full-grown sheep, which the common Rayat wears. The lamb-skins are also used to line coats, and make very comfortable pelisses. The only distinction in the head-dress of Persia, is that of a shawl wrapped round the black cap; and this distinction is confined to the King, to the Princes his sons, and to some of the nobility and great officers of state. Cashmire shawls have been discouraged of late, in order to promote the domestic manufacture of brocade shawls.

Like the Turks, and indeed generally like other Asiatics, the Persians are very careful in preserving warmth in the feet. In winter they wear a thick woollen sock; and in the air or in a journey, they bind their feet and legs with a long bandage of cloth, which they increase with the advance of the cold. They have three different sorts of shoes, and two sorts of boots. 1. A green slipper, with a heel about an inch and a half high, with a painted piece of bone at the top. These are worn by the higher classes, and by all before the King. 2. A flat slipper, either of red or yellow leather, with a little iron shoe under the heel, and with a piece of bone over that shoe, on which, as in the first instance, the heel rests. 3. A stout shoe (with a flat sole, turning up at the toe) which covers the whole foot, and is made either of leather, or of thick-quilted cotton. It is worn by the peasants, and by the chatters, or walking footmen.

The boots are, 1. a very large pair with high heels, turned up at the toe, made generally of Russia leather, and covering the leg. 2. A smaller and tighter kind, buttoning at the side, and reaching only to the calf of the leg. When the Persians ride, they put on a loose trowser of cloth, called shalwar, into which they insert the skirts of the alkalock, as well as the silken trowsers; so that the whole looks like an inflated bladder. The shalwar is very useful in carrying light baggage, as handkerchiefs, small books, &c. &c. not unfrequently a slight meal.

The Persians shave all the head except a tuft of hair just on the crown, and two locks behind the ears: but they suffer their beards to grow, and to a much larger size than the Turks, and to spread more about the ears and temples. They almost universally dye them black, by an operation not very pleasant, and necessary to be repeated generally once a fortnight. It is always performed in the hot-bath, where the hair being well saturated takes the colour better. A thick paste of Khenna is first made, which is largely plastered over the beard, and which after remaining an hour is all completely washed off, and leaves the hair of a very strong orange colour, bordering upon that of brick-dust. After this, as thick a paste is made of the leaf of the indigo, (which previously has been pounded to a fine powder), and of this also a deep layer is put upon the beard; but this second process, to be taken well, requires two full hours. During all this operation, the patient lies quietly flat upon his back; whilst the dye (more particularly the indigo, which is a great astringent) contracts the features of his face in a very mournful manner, and causes all the lower part of the visage to smart and burn. When the indigo is at last washed off, the beard is of a very dark bottle green, and becomes a jet black only when it has met the air for twenty-four hours. Some, indeed, are content with the Khenna, or orange colour; others, more fastidious, prefer a beard quite blue. The people of Bokhara are famous for their blue beards. It is inconceivable how careful the Persians are of this ornament: all the young men sigh for it, and grease their chins to hasten the growth of the hairs; because, until they have there a respectable covering, they are supposed not fit to enjoy any place of trust.

Another singular custom is that of dying the hands and feet: this is done by the abovementioned Khenna, which is generally put over every part of the hands and nails as far as the wrist, and on the soles of the feet, the toes, and nails.

From the comparative shortness of my stay in Persia, I cannot presume to delineate the national character. I shall therefore spare the reader any general observations which can be rendered of decisive authority only by the experience of years, and an intimate acquaintance with the literature and amusements, as well as with the administration of a country. The simple incidents of my journal, as they occur, may perhaps afford to every reader better materials for the illustration of the manners and society and government of Persia, than any systematic conclusions which I might have been able to extract from the same scenes and subjects.