The late Shah left $200,000,000 to his son, nearly half of which was in the form of precious stones and jewelry. Perhaps he has a larger amount invested in precious stones than any other king in the world. His peacock throne which was brought from Delhi, India, by king Nadirshah, who captured that city about 200 years ago, was prized at $12,500,000 some years ago, and is worth more than that now. It is made of solid gold, and is embedded with diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones. The rug upon which he prays is worth $2,500,000. At the beginning of each new year, seated on the peacock throne, he wears his crown, and all of his officers bow before him and wish him a prosperous reign during the new year. On such occasions his person is covered with many dazzling jewels.
WIVES.
The late Shah had forty regular wives and about sixty concubines. The present Shah has seven wives. The palace in which the king's wives reside is almost as beautiful as the king's palace, near which it is located. A number of soldiers guard the entrance to this palace. There are no men inside the palace except a few eunuch servants. There is also a large number of maid servants therein. When the king has many wives he marries some of them against their will. If he fancies a beautiful daughter of a lord, her parents will frequently marry her to the king in order to get an office or a title. The eunuchs have authority to rebuke the wives of the king. Sometimes a number of the women will playfully resent the eunuch's authority and push him against a wall or knock his high hat down over his eyes. Once they picked an old fellow up and threw him into a pool of water greatly damaging his fine suit of clothes. At times they give a valuable present to a eunuch such as a nice robe.
CHAPTER II.
GOVERNOR.
Persia is divided into thirteen states. The King appoints a governor over each state; this governor appoints a mayor over each city within his territory. This office is not awarded on the basis of education, ability or worthiness, but is given to the man who will pay the most money, provided his ancestry is fairly good. Many mayors of cities are related to the royal family. These offices are limited to terms of one year, but many times a mayor is removed before his time is out; the subjects may complain, or some person may bid more money for the office. When a man is appointed mayor of a city, the lords and counts of that city, accompanied by soldiers, will go three miles out of the city to meet the new official. He is greeted with discharges of artillery. These lords ride on very fine Arabian horses, with goldbitted bridles, and escort the mayor into the city. The new governor of the city admires the fine horses of his lords, and sometimes covets some fine steed, and before his term expires finds a way to get possession of it by helping the lord out of some trouble.
If the new mayor is a prince all prisoners confined in the city jails are taken before him as he enters the city. This is to signify that, as a member of the royal family, he has authority to behead them. The third day after a new mayor has arrived in a city it is customary for lords and counts to visit him with presents of money, golden articles, Arabian horses etc. as presents. A mayor has from one hundred to three hundred servants. He pays them no salary. Some became his servants for the name, some from fear, and others from choice. Most of these servants get their living from fines and bribes. Some of them are detailed to settle quarrels between men in some village that belongs to the city. This is their opportunity and they early learn to make the most of it. The mayor has great power. He is judge, sheriff, tax-collector, etc. He has things his own way. When there is an injustice done there is no other local officer to appeal to.
PRISONS.
The prisons are frequently cellars, underground, without windows, damp and infested with flies. They are seldom ventilated, and there is no bed nor furniture in them. The government does not feed the inmates. Friends of the imprisoned ones bring bread and throw to them, and some of this even, is sometimes picked up by the jailer and kept for his own nourishment. No men are allowed to visit the prisons, but wives or daughters are allowed to visit their friends if they pay a fee to the jailer. The torture of prisoners is regulated according to the nature of their crimes. The common method of torture for thieves, robbers and murderers is to put the bare foot of the criminal in a vice and squeeze it until he cries in agony. If he gives the jailer some money or promises to give some the next time his friends visit him, the pressure on the foot is lessened. If a man goes to jail wearing good clothes, the jailer often exchanges his own poorer suit for the good clothes.