The slaves in Persia have what Americans call “a good time;” well fed, well clothed, treated as spoiled children, given the lightest work, and often given in marriage to a favourite son, or taken as a “segah,” or concubine, by the master himself (and respectable Persians only take a “segah” for ninety-nine years, which is equivalent to a permanent marriage), slaves have the certainty of comfort and a well-cared-for old age. They are always looked on as confidential servants, are entrusted with large sums of money, and the conduct of the most important affairs; and seldom abuse their trust.
The greatest punishment to an untrustworthy slave is to give him his liberty and let him earn his living. They vary in colour and value: the “Habashi” or Abyssinian is the most valued; the Souhāli or Somāli, next in blackness, is next in price; the Bombassi, or coal-black negro of the interior, being of much less price, and usually only used as a cook. The prices of slaves in Shiraz are, a good Habashi girl of twelve to fourteen, forty pounds; a good Somāli same age, half as much; while a Bombassi is to be got for fourteen pounds, being chosen merely for physical strength. They are never sold, save on importation, though at times they are given away. Strange as it may appear, to the mind of any one who has lived in Persia, slavery in that country to the African is an unmixed good. Of course the getting to Persia, and the being caught, is another thing. But I have never seen a Persian unkind to his own horse or his slave, and when overtaken by poverty he first would sell his shirt, then his slave.
CHAPTER XXX.
TRAVELLING—ART WORK—FOODS.
Travelling—Difficulties of posting—Saddles and bits—Cruel joke—Old stories—Pastimes—Enamels—Persian pictures—Curio-buyer—Carvings—Metal-work—Calligraphy—Kahtam—Incised work on iron—Embroideries—Silver-work—Washing of linen—Ironing—Needlework—The bath—Washing the hair with clay—Bread and baking—Unleavened bread—Other kinds—Travellers’ food—Inordinate appetites—Food of the poor.
Of marching with a native caravan I have no experience—Europeans as a rule avoid it—and having usually enough luggage and servants to occupy a string of mules of their own, generally travel by themselves. A specimen of daily life upon the road when marching will be given in my journal on our road home, when we did twenty-eight days’ marching over some twenty-five to thirty miles a day, with only two days’ rest.
Of travelling post I have said enough: I have ridden myself from Ispahan to Teheran, seventy farsakhs, in thirty-nine hours twenty-five minutes, the horses being mostly full of grass: taking three miles and three-quarters to the farsakh, this gives two hundred and sixty miles as the distance, or a continuous speed of over six and a half miles an hour, allowing for stoppages, sleep, etc., in that time. Probably the actual rate is an average of eight miles, but it requires some resolution to keep it up. When it is remembered that the roads are vile in the extreme, being mere mule-tracks, and that horses can only be changed every twenty to twenty-six miles; that a heavy kit is carried; also that saddling, to be done well, has to be done by oneself, the horses paid and haggled for, half the time being at night, and that the post-people have to be awakened; it is not perhaps, after all, bad going. Much faster journeys than this however are made when the rider is expected, or prepared to liberally grease the palms of the post-people.
As a rule the European always outrides the native, the baggy “shulwars” of the latter rendering the wearer sore after prolonged cantering, and the native saddle and short stirrups being unfitted for long and rapid journeys. How a Persian can ever be thrown, as they are frequently, is very wonderful. Packed into the deeply-forked saddle, with a tremendous pommel, to which they cling, a fall ought to be impossible.
The native bits are “ab khori,” or watering-bit, a common snaffle; and “danah,” a most severe ring-bit. These are made like the letter H, very small, and having a plate, to which a ring is attached, affixed to the middle of the centre bar. This ring acts as does the curb-chain; a horse can be certainly stopped with one, but they are cruel though effectual; being made square, they cut like a knife, and are the frequent cause of very hard mouths. In fact, when one buys a horse he is always a puller, and, if an old horse, it takes a long time to accustom him to the snaffle. Of course in posting the native bit is the best to use, unless one wishes to be quite powerless.