[119] Avicenna.
[120] A wooden javelin.
[121] The modern Persian horseman has changed the bow of his ancestors for a matchlock, but the mode of using his arms is the same. The Parthians are described, in their successful contests with the disciplined legions of Rome, as carrying on their attacks, not against the army but the supplies by which it was supported.
"The mode in which the Parthian warrior took his unerring aim, while his horse was carrying him from his enemy," says the author of the History of Persia, "may be viewed as a personification of the system of warfare by which his nation, during this era of its history, maintained its independence. The system was suited to the soil, to the man, and to the fleet and robust animal on which he was mounted; and its success was so certain, that the bravest veterans of Rome murmured when their leaders talked of a Parthian war."—History of Persia, vol. i. p. 88.
[122] This excellent man is living on a small estate in his native country, the northern Circars, granted for his services in Persia and other quarters. He accompanied his old master, the Elchee, in the campaign in India of 1817-18; and in consideration of this further service to the public, his estate has been settled upon his children.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Terms of Reception at Court—Second Visit—Delivery of Presents—King's Grant—Private Interviews—King's Ancestors—Crown Jewels—King's love of a Joke—Mode of Passing his Time—Harem—Royal Meals—Hajee Ibrahim—His Character and Death.
The Elchee's reputation as a man conversant with forms, and much alive to their importance in all diplomatic proceedings, smoothed the way for the settlement he had to make regarding his reception at court. There were still, however, many minor points to be arranged which required much grave discussion. One presented itself on the very threshold of this negotiation, with which we were all highly amused.