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.
