This visit was at its commencement very formal, but the king, evidently desirous to give it another character, said to the Elchee, "I have heard a report which I cannot believe, that your king has only one wife." "No Christian prince can have more," said the Elchee. "O, I know that! but he may have a little lady."[126] "Our gracious king, George the Third," replied the Envoy, "is an example to his subjects of attention to morality and religion in this respect, as in every other." "This may all be very proper," concluded his majesty of Persia, laughing, "but I certainly should not like to be king of such a country."
A curious incident occurred as we left the palace. The king's giant, a man above eight feet high, and stout in proportion, was placed against one of the walls of the gate through which we were to retire, and he had in his hand a club of enormous dimensions. It was expected that the Elchee, on seeing him, would start with astonishment if not alarm; but he passed without taking any notice of this redoubtable personage, except by a slight glance. The fact was, as he afterwards confessed, it never entered into his imagination that it was a human being. Paintings of Roostem and his club (which the giant was dressed to imitate) are very common in Persia, and in the hurry of passing he took this to be one. He was first made sensible of his mistake by the praises of his mehmandar. "Admirable!" said the latter to him: "nothing could be better: the fools wished to try to startle you with giants and clubs stuck up against a wall. They are rightly served; your eye hardly rested on him for a moment, evidently not thinking him worthy of your notice. I shall tell them," he added, with a feeling that showed he considered his honour was associated with that of the person of whom he had charge, "that such men are quite common in your country, and that this giant would hardly be tall enough for one of the guards of the king of England."
Before we left Teheran the Envoy had several interviews with the king, at all of which his majesty was gracious; and at some, which were private, he spoke a great deal, and was very inquisitive into the habits and usages of England, and the character of its government.
Speaking of the empire of India, he asked, if it were true that ten ships were sent every year from that country to England loaded with gold and silver? The Elchee said it was very rare any bullion was sent from our territories in the East to England; that whatever went was in merchandise. "What a lie," said his majesty, "the Envoy[127] who preceded you told me; but," (seeing the Elchee annoyed,) "do not vex yourself, it is not your shame but ours; your predecessor was a Persian, and we all exaggerate—you speak truth. But why did you send a Persian to my court? I suppose," continuing to answer himself, "it was to find out what kind of a being I was, and whether my country was settled, before you deputed one of your own nation."
"Are the French," he asked, "a powerful people?" "Certainly," replied the Envoy; "they would not otherwise deserve to be mentioned as the enemies of the English." "There again," said the king, turning to his ministers, "you know we were told that the French were a weak and contemptible nation, which was incredible: the Elchee, by telling the truth, has done them justice, and raised his own country at the same time."
After a number of questions on the mines of South America, and the arts and manufactures of Europe, the king said, "All this is astonishing! Persia has nothing but steel." "Steel well managed," said the Elchee, "has, from the beginning of the world to the present day, commanded all other riches." "Very true," said the king, quite pleased with this compliment; "that is a very just observation; therefore we must not complain, but continue to be contented, as our ancestors have been, with our swords and our lances."
The king had learned that the Elchee, in his conversation with the minister, had displayed considerable acquaintance with the past history of his family at Asterabad, and his curiosity being excited, he sent to desire his attendance. We were received in a private apartment, in which there were only a few courtiers, but there were several Kajir chiefs, and four or five elders[128] of that tribe.
The interrogation began; and as the Elchee derived his knowledge from that minute and truth-telling traveller, Jonas Hanway, his answers quite surprised all present; and when he informed them, not only of the events which happened fifty-six[129] years before, but gave them accounts of the personal appearance, the dispositions, the connections, and the characters of the different chiefs, the astonishment of the elders was expressed by the frequent repetition of "Yâ Ali," an ejaculation that, in the mouth of a Persian, attends all sudden emotions of wonder. The king was more than pleased, he was delighted; he evidently believed, from the Elchee's knowledge of the history of his family, that their fame had reached Europe, and that it was as well known to the nations of that quarter of the globe as to the Tûrkûmâns of Goorgân, or the natives of Mazenderan.