FOOTNOTES
[1] See [Appendix D], page 417.
[2] Turcomanchai was the place where the treaty between Persia and Russia was signed, February 22, 1828. Erivan and Nakchewan were ceded to Russia, and two millions agreed to be paid to her.
[3] The form of these was very various, though the principle of action was always the same: the smoke was conducted to the bottom of a pint or more of water and then sucked up in bubbles through it, a gurgling noise being produced. Some used the long “snake” or nehpeech, a spiral of copper wire covered with coloured leather, and forming a flexible air-tight tube some four yards long; this was the more old-fashioned way, and required good lungs. A servant held the pipe itself at the side of the master’s chair. Others affected the wooden stem with the pipe; this as a rule is held by the smoker himself, and no great effort is required in smoking, as the tube is only eighteen inches long and air-tight, which the “nehpeech” or “snake” seldom is, save when quite new.
The portion between the pipe-head and the water-holder is as a rule always the same: a wooden tube some fourteen inches or more long, with numerous indentations, turned in a lathe, and coming to a point, so that any pipe-head will fit it; from the end of this an inner tube goes to within an inch of the bottom of the water. Sometimes this tube is made of ebony, at other times covered with silver, and rarely with gold. In its side at the bottom is the hole for the snake-like tube, or the stick.
The water-reservoir is usually of glass, either plain crystal, or cut Bohemian; the shape of these glasses is that of a wide-mouthed, long-necked decanter, and the neck serves as the place by which the whole contrivance is held. In summer a porous clay bottle is generally used as cooler by all classes, rich or poor.
Another kind of reservoir called a narghil (narghil, a cocoa-nut) is made, having its shape like a cocoa-nut, with a spike or small knob at the sharp end; this rests on the ground, and is meant for travelling. It is made of brass, silver, or gold, and often in the two latter cases enamelled; the “meāna,” or middle tube, to this kind of pipe is often two and a half feet long, and the stem two.
Yet another form of kalian exists for travelling, and that is a copy of the glass reservoir, of a rather squat shape, in buffalo or rhinoceros hide; this is often, indeed usually, covered with enamelled plates of gold and silver, often encrusted with gems, and is only in use among the very rich.
As the great personages of Persia are constantly travelling, these more elaborate forms of pipe are frequent; and, as a man’s pipe often gives an idea of his social position, money is very freely lavished on them. The mouth-piece is simply either wooden, or else the end is shod with silver. The head consists of, among the poor, a clay reservoir for the tobacco. These cost a farthing. But most Persians, though only of the lower middle class, manage to have a silver pipe-head; this consists of three pieces, the handle or chōb (wood), a carved and turned piece of wood pierced with a conical hole which fits the meāna (or stem)—this may be represented by the lower two-thirds of an old-fashioned wine-glass, with a small foot; the fire-holder, which is of gold, silver, or stone, is fitted to this, and represents the upper third of the wine-glass; and on this all the ingenuity of the Persians is lavished in the matter of ornament. From its under edge hang four or six little silver or gold chains four inches long, terminated by flattened balls.
Lastly, the wind-guard, which prevents the fire from falling or being blown up into an excessive state of incandescence, is usually made of silver, and is an inverted cone of the same size as the fire-holder, fitted to it with accuracy, and provided with two holes to give the requisite amount of draught; at the side two pairs of chains depend from the upper edge of this, and are made to reach as far as do the lower set.
The fire-holder is lined with a mixture of clay and plaster of Paris, on which is placed the tobacco, freshly moistened and rubbed into coarse fragments (though connoisseurs prefer a more elaborate preparation)—about three-quarters of an ounce is required; it is flattened and smoothed, the surplus water being squeezed away. Upon it are placed morsels of live charcoal, which are blown into a fierce flame, and the excess of water in the reservoir or bottle being driven out by blowing from the bottle, which is always nearly filled. A few draws are taken by the pipe-boy to see that all goes well, and to get rid of the taste of fresh charcoal, and get the tobacco well alight, and it is then handed to the smoker as under weigh.
On the fire-holder, however—perhaps because it is opposite the eye and so most conspicuous—are seen the highest efforts of Persian art. It is, whenever it can be afforded, of purest gold, though often thin; some rare exceptions are unornamented; more ordinarily it is chased or covered with high repoussé work, or elaborately engraved. Or it may be so encrusted with turquoises till little, if any, of the original metal shows; or it may be ornamented with elaborate enamels of birds and flowers, or of fruit; and a favourite pattern is vine-leaves of transparent enamel let into the deeply-cut metal, and the bunches of grapes of varied colours.
More often three or four ovals, some two inches long, are filled by portraits of a girl or boy—of course fancy ones—and the spaces between them filled with flowers and birds. These enamels are very beautiful, very costly, and very brittle; ten pounds being a common price paid to an enameller to decorate a gold head, while as much as one hundred tomans, or forty pounds, are given by great and rich amateurs.
Of the kalians, the heads and reservoirs of which are thickly encrusted with gems, I do not speak at present; I had few opportunities at that time of seeing such, and, as a rule, they are only possessed by the Shah, his sons and uncles. I trust the reader will bear with this long but needful detail as to pipes.
[4] As a rule, in Persia every one is up by six A.M.
[5] Those who feel curious on the subject of modern Persian medicine, I must refer to my article on the subject in the British Medical Journal.
[6] The English Legation or Embassy is always called “The Mission” in Persia, by the members of it, and the English in the country.
[7] Futteh-Ali Shah had over seventy sons and daughters, and a prince’s son in Persia is a prince.
[8] As some confusion may be experienced in the matter of money terms, I may append the following table of coins:—
| s. | d. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Copper) | 2 | pūls | = | 1 | shahi (or shaie) | or English | 0 | 0½ |
| ” | 10 | shahis | = | 1 | banabat or half-keran (silver) | ” | 0 | 5 |
| 20 | shahis | = | 1 | keran (silver) | ” | 0 | 10 | |
| 10 | kerans | = | 1 | toman (tomaun), gold | ” | 7 | 6 |
Were the keran really tenpence, of course the tomaun would be 8s. 4d., but its value is really only ninepence at present exchange (1883). Of these coins the pūls and shahis are copper, the kerans and half-kerans or banabats silver, and the tomauns gold; though for the past fifteen years, until just recently, the tomauns (in gold) had nearly disappeared, and were merely nominal, or old coins hoarded for the sake of the purity of their gold. Prices are given indiscriminately in tomauns or kerans; the price in kerans as five hundred kerans being mostly spoken of and always written as kerans and not fifty tomauns. Till lately the tomaun has been only a name. The merchant-class, too, use the dinar, an imaginary coin (not now minted at least), as a convenient fraction for calculation.
I on arrival took my servants’ accounts in tomauns and kerans, afterwards in kerans and shaies, and at last in kerans and pūls; while an English merchant friend actually wrote his house accounts in dinars, and said it awed his servants! one thousand dinars make a keran, so one dinar is the 1/1000 of 9d.
There are no bank-notes: and in The Times telegraphic news, under the head of Persia, Friday, February 24th, 1883, is a summary of a truly Persian edict. By it the Shah informs his subjects that, “they are foolish to take dirty pieces of paper for gold and silver, and that in future all Russian Rouble notes will be confiscated!” Then follows a really useful prohibition forbidding aniline dyes, and ordering such, when imported and discovered, to be destroyed; these dyes, which are not fast, have been lately much used by ignorant carpet-weavers in Persia.
[9] Hakim, a doctor or physician.
[10] This system accounts partly for the apparently very low wages paid to the Persian servant, which are (I give those paid latterly—1881—by myself; in the case of head-servants it is sometimes, but very seldom, more, as the pay is of course nothing to the modakel):—
| A month. | £ | s. | d. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A nazir or steward | 50 kerans, or | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| A good cook | 50 ” | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| A good peishkhidmut (personal servant, waits at table, and valets one, and is expected to dress well) | 40 to 50 kerans, or 30s. to | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| A farrash, i. e. sweeper or message runner | 25 kerans, or | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A sherbet-dar, plate-cleaner, maker of coffee, ices, etc. | 25 ” | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A second farrash | 20 ” | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| A third farrash | 15 ” | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| A cook’s disciple, or scullery man | 10 ” | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| A washerman, or woman who can wash and iron thoroughly | 35 ” | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| A woman-servant or nurse | 25 ” | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A head-groom | 30 ” | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| An under-groom | 20 ” | 0 | 16 | 0 |
[11]? Mustela Sarmatica.
[12] More correctly munshi.
[13] Or nummud.
[14] Here are four tombs, cut in the face of the solid rock, those of Darius, Xerxes I., Artaxerxes I., and Darius II. A detailed description is to be found in Usher’s book. (See illustration.)
[15] Russian subjects are well protected in Persia, and no injury or insult to them is allowed to pass by their embassy.
[16] The present comparative dearness of provisions, such as bread, milk, eggs, etc., is compensated for by a corresponding cheapness in the price of sugar, candles, etc., which formerly were more expensive. I append a list of prices in Ispahan in 1882:—
| Kerans. | s. | d. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice (per maund, 14 lbs.) | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Mutton ” ” | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Beef ” ” | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | |
| Fowls (each) | ¾ to 1 | 7d., 8d. and | 0 | 9 |
| Small chickens (each) | ⅓ | 0 | 3 | |
| Pigeons ” | 0 | 2 | ||
| Partridges ” | ½ | 0 | 4½ | |
| Eggs (40 to 60) | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| Butter (14 lbs.) | 5 | 3 | 9 | |
| Clarified butter or ghee for cooking (14 lbs.) | 5 to 7 | 4s. to | 5 | 0 |
| Coffee, Mocha (per lb.) | 1 | 9d. to | 0 | 10 |
| Tobacco (14 lbs.) | 4 to 12 | 3s. to | 10 | 0 |
| Potatoes ” | ½ to 2 | 4½d. to | 1 | 6 |
| Wood for firing (280 lbs.) | 2½ | 1 | 9 | |
| ” broken, in small quantities (280 lbs.) | 5 | 3 | 9 | |
| Loaf-sugar, English (per lb.) | ¾ to 1 | 6d. to | 0 | 9 |
| Charcoal, sifted (14 lbs.) | ½ to 1 | 4½d. to | 0 | 9 |
| ” unsifted ” | ¼ to ½ | 2d. to | 0 | 4½ |
| Grapes ” | 7/20 to 15/20 | 3d. to | 0 | 7 |
| Dip candles ” | 4 | 3 | 0 | |
| Commonest oil for servants (14 lbs.) | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | |
| Bread (14 lbs.) | 1 to 1½ | 9d. to | 1 | 1 |
The cost of horse-keep, including grooms’ wages, shoeing, etc., is from 9d. to 1s. a day; this is supposing several are kept.
[17] I use this word for want of a better.
[18] On March 30th I left Erzeroum at nine A.M., reached Hassan Kaleh, twenty-four miles, at three P.M.; started again at four P.M. (all snow), reached Balakoohi, where a storm compelled us to halt at seven P.M. Slept there.
March 31st.—Started at five A.M. for Kharassan, twenty-five miles; arrived at half-past nine; made a detour of ten miles on account of water. Started at half-past eleven on same horses; stopped at a village twenty-four miles off, name unknown; horses dead beat; road—water, mud, and thawing snow—twenty-four miles.
April 1st.—Started at five A.M.; arrived at Moollah Suleiman, eighteen miles (same sort of road), at ten A.M.; left at half-past eleven for Kadikeesa, twenty miles; arrived at five P.M.; went on through snow till nine P.M. to a village, twelve miles only; halted. Slept in a sheep-shed full of tics.
April 2nd.—Started at six A.M.; arrived at three P.M. at Desardūn, thirty-six miles. Here I saw Mount Ararat. Road very bad, from melting snow. Arrived at Kizzil Deeza, twenty-four miles (a wretched hole), at eight P.M.
April 3rd.—Five A.M. Road pretty fair over a long snow-pass, twenty miles to Abajik, in Persia. Arrived at ten A.M. Quite a pleasure to get among the Persians again, and to be able to make myself understood. Then an easy twenty miles to Keranee—half-past four P.M. Started at once; reached Zarabad, twenty-two miles over a good road with capital horses, at half-past eight P.M.
April 4th.—Left at half-past six A.M. for Khoi, a long twenty-four miles; got in at eleven A.M. Khoi is a very large place, apparently prosperous. Good dinner of bazaar kabobs. Arrived at Turseh, twenty-four miles, ten P.M.; road good, but shocking horses, down a tremendous pass, then along the shores of Lake Ooroomeyeh—a kind of Dead Sea—it is very salt. Many bituminous fires lighted it up at night, huge sheets of flame suddenly appearing.
April 5th.— Half-past two A.M., left Turseh for a place the name of which has escaped me, arriving at half-past ten A.M. Arrived at Sufian at half-past twelve noon. Left at once, reaching Tabriz, twenty-four miles off, in four hours. Erzeroum to Tabriz, six days and seven hours, three hundred and thirty-five miles.
I stopped with Colonel J⸺, V.C., our Consul-General, April 6th, 7th, and 8th. At three P.M. of April 9th I started for Teheran.
Stages between Tabriz and Teheran.
| Miles. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Saoudabad | 20 | |
| Hadji Aga | 20 | |
| Darathiar | 16 | |
| 56 | ||
| Slept. | ||
| April 10th.— | Turcomanchai | 24 |
| Meana | 16 | |
| Jemalabad | 12 | |
| Tercham | 16 | |
| Aga Mezar | 12 | |
| Nikibeg | 20 | |
| 100 | ||
| Slept four hours. | ||
| April 11th.— | Zinjan (met one of our staff; breakfasted, and lost three hours) | 26 |
| Sultaneah | 24 | |
| Khya | 30 | |
| 80 | ||
| Slept four hours. | ||
| April 12th.— | Khirve | 18 |
| Zeedaen | 24 | |
| Kasvin | 16 | |
| Abdulabad | 18 | |
| 76 | ||
| Slept four hours. | ||
| April 13th.— | Sufferkhoja | 24 |
| Shunkerabad | 22 | |
| Meanjūb | 20 | |
| Teheran | 20 | |
| 86 | ||
[19] This is the one standard weight of Persia, the other being the miscal or sixth part of our ounce. This, for convenience, is supposed to consist of twenty nokods—the nokod being a grain similar to our pea in appearance. The nokod is subdivided into three gundums or grains (of wheat); these again into four kērāts (or carats)—these latter, however, are only used in weighing gems. The Tabriz maund (or batman) and the miscal and its subdivisions are in use throughout Persia in mercantile affairs.
Further north than Ispahan the sere and the gerewankeh—the latter about a pound, and borrowed from the Russians—are in use. Other local weights exist, only known in special places. As a rule, each village has its special weight (literally stone, “sang”), and their maunds get lighter and lighter as one gets away from the large cities.
[20] The cost had been—
| Kerans. | |
|---|---|
| Thirty jars, at five kerans | 150 |
| Twenty loads of grapes | 750 |
| Carriage of same | 60 |
| Cost of labour, etc. | 100 |
| 1060 | |
| Per contra. | |
| Kerans. | |
| Paid to me by Jews for refuse, for arrack-making | 50 |
| Resale of jars | 140 |
| 190 | |
Total cost, 870 kerans, or about 5½d. per bottle.
[21] Must is a Persian word signifying “drunk;” it also means the state of excitement of male camels at certain times.
[22] Strangled, after he had refused a cup of poisoned coffee, in 1882, by order of the Zil-es-Sultan, while an honoured guest in his (the Zil-es-Sultan’s) house.
[23] Topi, a sun-helmet.
[24] The full title is Kawam-ul-Molk.
[25] The full title is Muschir-ul-Molk.
[26] Would it have been necessary to have explained to Bishop Bonner the use of the thumbscrews after his cruelty to the Reformers?
[27] Aug. 2nd, 1887. Dr. Odling writes me that this well is 849 feet deep. I fancy that there is some error in this, as I put down the six hundred yards. Possibly there may be a second shaft.
[28] The murdered sons of Ali, considered by the Persians, and all Shiah Mahommedans, as the rightful successors of the prophet, consequently sainted martyrs.
[29] Bhang, an intoxicating drug used by dervishes.
[30] Azraël, the angel of death.
[31] Not of coral, as in the Levant.
[32] Origin of our word “hummums.”
[33] Now Sir Oliver St. John.
[34] See Ussher’s ‘London to Persepolis,’ p. 564.
[35] Muleteer.
[36] See [Appendix D], page 417.
[37] Shah Abbas the Great built caravanserais of great size and solidity all over Persia, hence a good and large caravanserai, even though not built by him, is called a “Shah Abbas caravanserai.”
[38] Mushir al Mulk, counsellor of the province.