 Section 38 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Monday the 17th of June or 7th of Chaval. This afternoon I visited a young secretary of the prince with whom I had become acquainted and found him with the son of the prince telegraphist, Molo Yusuf, and other congenial friends, all or nearly all, as Ali Babis. Sitting round a little tank which occupied the center of the room in smoking opium. The discussion, as usual, turned on religion, and Molo Yusuf gave me some further instances of the kibbles whereby the Shiite clergy and their followers have made the law of no effect. There are, said he, six obligations incumbent on every Muslim to whip prayer, salat, fasting, siam, pilgrimage, hajj, tiths, choms, alms, zakats, and under certain circumstances religious warfare, jihad. Of these six, the last three have practically become null and void. Of religions war they are afraid, because the infidels have waxed strong and because they remember the disastrous results which attended their more recent enterprises of this sort. As for the tiths, choms, literally fifts, they should be paid to poor sayeds or descendants of the prophet. And how do you suppose they manage to save their money and sell their consciences at the same time? Why? They place the amount of the money which they ought to give in a jar and pour three ekel, shireh, over it. Then they offer this jar to a poor sayed without, of course, letting him know about the money which it contains. And when he has accepted it, buy it back from him for two or three qarans. Or else they offer him one toman, on condition that he signs a receipt for fifty. I turned these admissions against Molo Yusuf when he began to argue for the superiority of Islam over Christianity. You yourself, I said, declare that the essential characteristic of the prophetic word is that it has power to control men's hearts. And as you have just told me, that out of six things which Muhammad made binding on his followers, three have become of non-effects. You cannot wonder if I question the proof of Islam by your own criterion. God knows that the mass of professing Christians are very far from putting into constant practice all the commands laid upon them by him whom they profess to follow. But I should be sorry to think that his precepts and example had as little effect on my counterman as those of Muhammad on your own showing seem to have on yours. On returning to the garden, I found a note from the officious Haji Muhammad Khan inquiring whether I had learned anything more about the two Frenchmen who had arrived in Kerman. He had also left with Haji Safar a verbal message asking for some brandy, which message by reason of Sayyid Hussein's presence, Haji Safar communicated to me in Turkish. Don't attempt to conceal anything from me, exclaimed the Sayyid, by talking a foreign language, for I perfectly understand what you're talking about. This, however, was, as I believe, a mere idle boast. From Mullah Yusuf, I today obtained a more circumstantial account than I had yet heard of an event which some time ago created a good deal of excitement in Kerman, especially amongst the Bobbys. A latter fifteen, the son of an architect in the city who had been brought up in the doctrines of the Sheikhis, turned Bobby, and inspired by that reckless zeal which is the special characteristic of the people of the Bayan, repaired to Langa, the headquarters of the Sheikhis, and the residence of the sons of Haji Muhammad Karim Khan. And there publicly addressed the assembled Sheikhis on the signs of the manifestation of Imam Mahdi and the general theory of the Theophany. The Sheikhis, believing him to be one of themselves, at first listened complacently enough as he developed his doctrine and were even pleased with his eloquence and fervor. But when, after declaring that in each dispensation there must needs be a point of darkness opposed to the point of light, an Imrud against an Abraham, a Pharaoh against a Moses, an Abu Jahl against a Muhammad, an Antichrist or Dajjal against a Mahdi, he so described the point of light and point of darkness of this cycle as to make it clear that by the former he meant Mirza Ali Muhammad the Bab and by the latter Haji Muhammad Karim Khan the theory of his audience burst forth. They seized him, dragged him from the mosque, reviled him, cursed him, pelted him with stones, bound him to a tree and scorched him most cruelly. In spite of all they could do, however, it continued to laugh and exhaust so that at last they were obliged to release him. Tuesday the 18th of June, the 8th of Shavu'l. This afternoon I received another visit from Afzal Khan the Baluch who wished me to give him a letter of introduction to my friend the Nawab Mirza. Hasan Ali Khan at Mashhad, whether he proposed to proceed shortly. Then he began to persuade me to accompany him and thence onwards to Kandahar and Qalote Nasiri his home in Baluchistan. You say you are a traveler, concluded he, desirous of seeing as much as you can of the world. Well, Baluchistan is part of the world and a very fine part too. Not Persian Baluchistan, of course, which is a poor miserable place but our own land. I declined his seductive offer and thereupon it taunted me with being afraid. At this juncture the sheikh of Aum and the postmaster's son arrived. Well, said the sheikh, when the usual greetings had been exchanged, what do you make of these two pharangis who have come to Kerman? Hitherto, I replied, I've hardly seen them. Inconsequently, I'm not in a position to form an opinion. They declared themselves to be Frenchmen, continued the sheikh, but if so, it's a very astonishing thing that they should be so wanting in good manners as they appear to be, for we always suppose the French to be remarkable amongst European nations for their courtesy and politeness. Your supposition is correct, as a rule, I answered, even though there be exceptions. But you know, the aphorism in Adaro Kal Ma'adoun, the exception is as the non-existent. In what way have they shown a lack of courtesy? Why, said the sheikh, his royal highness, the prince may God perpetuate his rule, naturally wish to see them and asserting the business which had brought them here, so he sent a message inviting them to visit him. They refused to come. He was naturally very angry, but seeing that they were pharangis and so saving your presence and not to be judged by our standards of good behavior, he swallowed down his annoyance and sent another message saying, since you do not wish to visit me, I must need visit you. In answer to this second message, they sent back word that their lodging was not suitable for receiving so august a personage. His royal highness hesitated to punish their churlishness, as it deserved, but finding that they had with them a Persian attendant, lent to them by the governor of Ma'adoun, with whom prince Nasser Adoulay is not on the best of terms, he ordered him to come to the palace for interrogation on the following day. For, thought he, him at least I can oblige to speak. When the pharangis found that their fists were going to be opened in spite of them, they decided to accompany their man before the prince, and without giving any notice of their visit, in they marched with their great dirty boots which they never even offered to remove. Neither would they give any satisfactory account of themselves or their business. But think it probable that they are come after walnut trees, which as men say, they cut and polish in some manner known to themselves, in such a way that pictures or reflections of any scene which may have taken place in the neighborhood of the tree appear in the polished surface of the wood. But of this you probably know more than we do. Question is, are they really French men as they assert? I don't know, said I. All I can say is that they talk French so far as I can judge as though it were their native language. Don't you believe a word of it? Broke in the Balooch? They are no more French than I am. Who are the French that they should dare to act toward his royal highness as these men have done? No, they are either Russians or English of that you may be sure. We laughed at the Balooch's ideas on the balance of power in Europe while he continued with increasing excitement. If his royal highness will but give me a hint, I will seek out these pharangies in their lodging. I end my companions here and will kill them and cut off their heads and lay them at the prince's feet. And how would you do that? Ask the sheikh with difficulty suppressing his mirth? Do it, rejoiced Afzal Khan, easily enough. I would find out where they lodged, walk in one fine day with an assalamu alaikum, peace be upon you, and cut them down with this sword of mine before they had time to speak, or flee, or offer the slightest resistance. Oh, said the sheikh, but that wouldn't be at all right. You shouldn't say peace be upon you to a man you're just going to kill. Why not, retorted the Balooch? They're infidels, kafars, and such it is lawful to slay in any manner. But he is a kafar too, slightly remarked the sheikh pointing towards myself. Yes, I know he is exclaimed the Balooch, and if only here he was interrupted by a general row of laughter. Oh, most excellent Khan, I cried as soon as the general merriment had somewhat subsided. Now your fist is opened. Now I see why you are so eager for me to accompany you to your interesting, hospitable country. A long journey in sooth would it have been, and one as I think and which I might have set out singing. Dami Raftan asked Orfi, Birochash nezareikon, ke omi debbaz gashdan kas azin safar nadara. This the moment of departure of Orfi. Take a last look at his face, for from this journey none may hope to return. The Balooch hung his head in some confusion, and then began to laugh gently. You are quite right, sahib, he said. But I know very well that you are an agent of your government. Engage in heaven knows what mischief here. Why, look at me, I replied. I live as you see like a dervish, without any of the circumstance or having which befeats any envoy of such a government as ours. I, he retorted, but you English are cunning enough to avoid ostentation when it suits your own ends to do so. I know you to my cost, and that is the way it always begins. And so the matter dropped, and that was the last I saw of my friend Afzal Khan. Later on, several other visitors came, the Seyed of course, Haji Shirazi, who was immensely convivial, having as he informed me, drunk half a bottle of brandy for his stomach's sake, and the parter of peace. The last drew me aside out of the hearing of the Seyed, between whom and himself subsisted a most violent antipathy, and said he had come to ask me to have supper one night with him, the postmaster, and some other congenial friends so that we could converse quietly and without fear of intrusion. Thank you, I said. I shall be very pleased to come any evening that suits you, and I am no less anxious than yourself for an opportunity for some quiet conversation for hitherto. Though I know that many of my friends here are Babis, we have only talked on side issues and have never come to the main point. And it's about the Bab especially, and Ghuratul Ain, and the others, not about Baha that I want to hear. It was he whom I heard about and learned to admire and love before I left my native country. And since my arrival in Persia, though I have conversed with many Babis, it is always of Baha that they speak. Baha may be very well and may be superior to the Bab, but it's about the Bab that I want to hear. Yes, he replies, you shall hear about him, for he is worth hearing about. The Lord Jesus come back to earth in another form. He was but a child of nineteen when his mission began, and was only twenty-six when they killed him. Killed him because he was a charmer of hearts and for no crime but this. In what church, in what religion is this lawful, that they should kill a charmer of hearts saying, why dost thou steal hearts? Whose is that verse, I inquired. Oh, he replied, the original verse is Aragiz and runs thus, that kodam mellatastin, that kodam mazhabastin, ke koshand au sheghira, ke to au shegham chera. In what church, in what religion is this lawful, that they should kill a lover saying, why art thou my lover? But we have altered the verse to suit our purpose. At this point, the sayed was seen approaching us, and the parter of peace fled as from the angel of death. But Haji Shiraz, an after supper, consumed as much brandy as he could get, observing repeatedly in a rather unsteady voice, that no amount of it produced any effect upon him, because moisture so greatly predominated in his natural temperament. End of section 38 Section 39 Wednesday, 19th June, 9th Chaval This morning I received a visit from a very melancholy person, who I think held the office of treasurer to the Prince Governor. He told me that he did not like Europeans, and would not have come to see me if he had not heard that I, unlike most of them, took an interest in religious questions, into which he forthwith plunged, arguing against the possibility of the use of wine being sanctioned by any true prophet, and defending the seclusion of women and the use of the veil. Against these last I argued very earnestly, pointing out the evil's which, as it appeared to me, resulted from them. He was silent for a while after I had finished speaking, and then said, It is true I admit the force of your arguments, and I cannot at this moment give a sufficient and satisfactory answer to them, though I believe there must be one. But I will not attempt to give an insufficient answer, for my sole desire is to be just and fair. Before he left he told me that he suffered much from indigestion, brought on by excessive meditation, adding, I fear, I fear greatly. I asked him what he feared, and he replied, God. In the afternoon, Faridun came to me, while I was sitting in Hauji Shirazi's shop, to arrange a visit to the Dachme, or Tower of Silence of the Zoroastrians. Hauji Shirazi was most insolent to him, calling him a son of a dog, Pedarsag, a gabbr, and the like. I saw poor Faridun flush up with an anger which it cost him an effort to control, and would fain have given the drunken old Hauji a piece of my mind, had I been certain that he did not intend his rudeness for playful banter, and I had not further feared that in any case my remonstrances would only increase his spite against Faridun, which I could only hope to suppress, so long as I remained at Kermon. I told Faridun this afterwards, and he not only approved my action, but begged me not to interfere in any similar case. It would do no permanent good, he said, and would only embitter them against us, but do not forget what we poor Zoroastrians have to suffer at the hands of these Mosul-Mons when you return to your native land, and try, if you can, to do something for us. Towards evening I rode out with Gushdarsp and Faridun to the Lonely Dachmer, situated on a jagged mountain spur at some little distance from the town. Gushdarsp rode his donkey, but Faridun, who was a bold and skillful rider, had borrowed a horse, for the Zoroastrians at Kermon are not subjected to restrictions quite so irksome as those which prevail at Yazd. We stopped twice on the way to drink wine at a place called Saripol, Bridgend, and at a sort of halfway house, where funerals halt on their way to the Dachmer, or rather Dachmeres, for there are two of them, one disused, and one built by Monakchi, the late Zoroastrian agent at Tehron, a little higher up the ridge. At the foot of this we dismounted Mulla Gushdarsp, remaining below to look after the animals, while I ascended with Faridun by a steep path, leading to the Upper Dachmer, here Faridun, whose brother had recently been conveyed to his last resting place, proceeded to mutter some prayers, untying and rebinding his girdle, or koshti, as he did so. After which he produced a bottle of wine, and poured three libations to the dead, exclaiming as he did so, chudal biol morzad ha meye raft agaunro, may God forgive all those who are gone, and then helped himself, and passed the wine to me. Observing an inscribed tablet on the side of the Dachmer, which was still some twenty yards above us, I called my companion's attention to it, and made as though I would have advanced towards it, but he checked me. None, said he, may pass beyond this spot where we stand, save only those whose duty it is to convey the dead to their last resting place, and a curse falls on him who persists in so doing. As he spoke he pointed to a Persian inscription cut on the rock beside us, which I had not previously observed, wherein a curse was invoked on anyone whom curiosity or a desire to molest the dead should impel to enter the Dachmer. Near this was inscribed the well-known verse, ey dost, bar jenaus idoshman chu bexari, shaudi makon, ke bar to ha min, mo jarobovad. O friend, when thou passest by the corpse of thine enemy, rejoice not, for on thee will the same fate fall. Below this was recorded the date of the Dachmer's completion, Zelhedge 20th, A.H. 1283, 25th April, A.D. 1867, corresponding to the year 1236 of Yazdegerd. On returning to the garden, I found the inevitable Sayed Hossein, who had arrived soon after I had gone out, and in my absence had been inflicting his theological dissertations on Na'eb Hassan. It had been arranged that I should visit a certain Mirza Mohamed Ja'far Khan, a nephew of the great leader of the Sheikhs and antagonist of the Barbies, Hauji Mohamed Karim Khan, who had called upon me a few days previously, and the Sayed, hearing this, insisted on accompanying me. On reaching his house, which stood alone at some distance from the town, we were received by him and a stout pallid youth named Yusof Khan, who I believe was his cousin or nephew in the Tambal Khan Air, or lounging room, the walls of which were profusely decorated, with a strange medley of cheap European prints and photographs, representing scripture incidents, scenes from Uncle Tom's cabin, scantily clothed women, and other incongruous subjects, arranged in the worst possible taste. The low opinion of my host's character, with which this exhibition inspired me, was not bettered by his conversation, which was, so far as I remember, singularly pointless. He evidently felt ill at ease in the presence of the Sayed, who inquired very searchingly, as to the reception which the eldest of Hauji Muhammad Karim Khan's sons, the present chief of the Sheikhs, had met with at the holy shrines of Karbala and Najaf, whither he had recently gone. So far as we could learn, he had been anything but cordially received, and at Khawza Main, the people had not suffered him to preach in the mosque. On my return to the garden, I had supper with Nao eb Hassan, who dispersed the character of my new acquaintance in a way which I cannot bring myself to repeat. Thursday, 20th June, 10th Chaval. This morning, I paid a visit to one of the most eminent members of the clergy of Kermon, the Mujtahed, Mullah Muhammad, Sollehe Kermony. He was a fine-looking man with a long black beard and deeply furrowed brow and received me with a somewhat haughty courtesy. He conversed on religious topics only, pointing out the beauties of the law of Islam, and taking great exception to the carelessness of Europeans in certain matters of purification. On leaving his house, I was taken to see an iron foundry where I was shown two excellent-looking enfield rifles manufactured by a Kermony gunsmith in imitation of one of European workmanship lent to him by the prince-governor. In the afternoon, I received a visit from the two Frenchmen, of whose arrival in Kermon I have already spoken. Haji Muhammad Khan, Mullah Yousaf, and Sayed Hossein, happened to come while they were with me, but the last on a hint from Naoueb Hassan that wine was likely to be produced fled precipitately to the satisfaction of everyone. The Frenchmen appeared from their account to have had a very rough journey from Mashhad to Kermon and not to enjoy much comfort even here. They were delighted with the wine, cognac and tea, which I placed before them, for they had not been able to obtain any sort of alcohol here not knowing whether to go for it, and conversed freely on everything save the objects of their journey, of which they seemed unwilling to speak. Though Haji Muhammad Khan, who really did speak French with some approach to fluency, endeavored again and again to extract some information from them. He was so disgusted at his ill success that he afterwards announced to me his conviction that they were persons of no rank or breeding, and that he had no wish to see anything more of them. In the evening I supped with the Prince Governor, the party being completed by the Sheikh of Qom and the Prince Telegraphist. The meal was served in European fashion in a room in the Bauggenau Serrier Palace, which was brightly illuminated. A great number of European dishes was set before us, no doubt in my honour, though as a matter of fact I should have greatly preferred Persian cookery. Wine too was provided and not merely for show either. The Prince acting I suppose on the aphorism, addressed men according to the measure of their understandings, conversed chiefly on European politics, in which I felt myself thoroughly out of my depth. He was however extremely kind and when I left insisted on lending me a horse and a man to conduct me home. Friday, 21st June, 11th, Chaval. In the afternoon I returned Mirza Javad's call and found with him his son and his son's tutor, Mullah Ghulam Hossein, a sheikh from whom I extracted the following account of the essential doctrines of his school. The Bolo Sariz, or ordinary Shiites, said he, assert that the essentials of religion are five, to wit, belief in the unity of God, Toheed, the justice of God, Adl, the prophetic function, Nobovat, the imamate, Emomat, and the resurrection, Na'oud. Now we say that two of these cannot be reckoned as primary doctrines at all. For belief in the prophet involves belief in his book and the teachings which it embodies, amongst which is the resurrection. And there is no more reason for regarding a belief in God's justice as a principal canon of faith than belief in God's mercy or God's omnipotence or any other of his attributes. Of their five principles or essentials, Osul, therefore, we accept only three. But to these we add another, namely, that there must always exist amongst the Mosul-Mans a perfect Shiite, Shi'e-Karmel, who enjoys the special guidance of the Imams and acts as a channel of grace. Between them and their church, this tenet we call the fourth support or fourth essential principle of religion. In the evening I was the guest of Ostaakbar, a parcher of peas, at supper, and stayed the night at his house. Amongst the guests were Aghor Fathollah, a young Azali minstrel and poet who sung verse in praise of the barb composed by himself. Sheikh Ebrahim of Sultanabad, one of his intimates and admirers, a servant of the Farrash Baoshi named Abdullah, a post office official whom I will call Haidarullah, and the Peeparcher's brother. As the evening wore on, these began to talk very wildly in a fashion with which I was soon to become too familiar, declaring themselves to be one with the divine essence and calling upon me by such titles as to acknowledge that there was no one but the Lord Jesus present. We read and somewhat disgusted as I was, it was late before they would suffer me to retire to rest on the roof. Saturday 22nd June 12th Chaval. The party at Oztar Akbar's did not break up till about an hour and a half before sunset when I returned to the garden accompanied by Sheikh Ebrahim who, from this time forth until I left Kermon became my constant companion. Though more than once disgusted at his blasphemous conversation and drunkenness, I endeavored to discourage his visits. But he was not one to be easily shaken off, and on these occasions when my indignation had been specially kindled against him, he would make so fair a show of regret for his conduct that I was constrained to forget his unseemly behavior. Moreover, he was a man well worth talking to so long as he was sober or not more than half drunk having traveled widely through Persia, Turkey and Egypt, seen many strange things and stranger people, and mixed with almost every class and sect, as it is the privilege of his order to do. He was indeed one of the most extraordinary men whom I ever met, and presented a combination of qualities impossible in any but a Persian. Anarchist, antinomian, heretic and libertine to the very core, he gloried in drunkenness and expressed the profoundest contempt for every ordinance of Islam, boasting of how he had first eaten pork in the company of a European traveller with whom he foregathered in Egypt, and quoting an excuse for his orgies of hashish and ritz, this couplet from the Masnavi, nangeban gochamr barchod minahi, tau dami az khishtan, tau, vaurehi, thou disgracest thyself with bang and wine, in order that for a moment thou mayest escape from thyself. I have seen him on an occasion when by the laws of Islam the minor ablution was incumbent on him take up an empty ewer off d'albert, and when warned by his friends that it contained no water replied, Bah! What do I care? I only carry it to blind these accursed dogs of orthodoxy, who if they had but proof of one tenth of the contempt which I entertain for them and their observances would tear me to pieces. He professed to be a barbie, and as will be related in its proper place, had all but suffered death for his beliefs. When a youth, he had visited Baha'u at Akra, and Sobhe Azal in Cyprus, and declared himself to be a follower of the former, though in point of fact he paid no more attention to the commands and prohibitions of the Kitab-e-Aqdas than to those of the Qur'an accounting all laws human and divine, as made by the wise for fools to observe. In short, he was just a free thinking, free living antinomian dervish or Qalandar a sort of mixture of Omar-e-Khayyam and Erolki with only a fraction of their talent and culture and ten times their disregard for orthodox opinion and conventional morality. Yet was he lacking neither in originality, power of observation and deduction nor humor, and his intelligence, now sadly undermined by narcotics and alcohol must have originally been sufficiently acute. Such was the man in whose society it was my lot to pass a considerable portion of my remaining days at Kermon. Again and again, as I have said, I would have cast him off and been quit of him but ever the interest of his extraordinary character and the charm of his conversation made me condone his faults and bear with him a little longer. He was a perfect repository of information concerning the roads halting places, towns and peoples of western Asia. You had but to ask him how to reach any town from a given starting place and he would in a few minutes sketch you out two or three alternative routes with the stages advantages, disadvantages and points of interest of each. To give an instance I had at this time some idea of quitting Persia by Hamadon and making my way thence to the Mediterranean and I inquired of Sheikh Ebrahim whether this project was feasible. Oh yes, he replied nothing can be easier. From Hamadon you will go to Sanan Dej, a march of four days thence in four days to Soleimaniye thence in four days more to Mosul where you must certainly pay a visit to Zeynol Mokarabin and who inquired I is Zeynol Mokarabin. He is one of the most notable of the friends Ahbab, that is the Barbies, replied he and to him is entrusted the revision and correction of all copies of the sacred books sent out for circulation of which indeed the most trustworthy are those transcribed by his hand. His real name is Mullah Zeynol Abedin of Najaf-e-Baud. You may also see at Mosul Mirza Abdul Wahab of Shiroz the seal engraver who will cut for you a seal bearing an inscription in the new writing. And Mirza Abdullah al-Augaband both of whom are worth visiting. Are these the only Barbies at Mosul I inquired? Oh no, he answered you will find plenty of them there and elsewhere on your route you can tell them by their dress they wear the Turkish Fez with a small white turban and a job bare they do not shave their heads but on the other hand they never allow the Zolf to grow below the level of the lobe from Mosul you will go in four days to Jazireh thence in three days to Mardin thence in four days to Diyarbek thence in four days to Orfa thence in two days to Sovarrak thence in three days to Aura thence in three days to Birajik and thence in six days to the ship for Constantinople or Alexandria or your own country as you please but you should by all means go to Akra and visit Baha so that your experience may be complete you have visited Akra have you not? I inquired tell me what sort of place it is and what you saw there Yes! he replied I was there for 70 days during which period I was honoured Mosharaf by admission to the Holy Presence 12 times the first time I was accompanied by two of Baha's sons by his Emanuensis and Constant attendant Ogomirza Ogajan of Kaushan whom they call Jannabe Khadim Allah His Excellence the Servant of God and by my fellow traveller all these so soon as we entered the Presence Chamber prostrated themselves on the ground but while I ignorant of the etiquette generally observed was hesitating what to do Baha called out to me it is not necessary laus emnist then said he twice in a loud voice O Raka Loho Aleykum God bless you and then most blessed are ye in that ye have been honoured by beholding me which thing saints and prophets have desired most earnestly then he bad us be seated and gave orders for tea to be set before us my companion hesitated to drink it lest he should appear wanting in reverence seeing which Baha said the meaning of offering a person tea is that he should drink it then we drank our tea and Khadim Allah read aloud one of the epistles Alvao after which we were dismissed during my stay at Akra I was taken ill by a portion of the pillow which had been set before him and this I had no sooner eaten than I was restored to health you should have seen how the other believers envied me and how they begged for a few grains from my share and this happened on two subsequent occasions when I left Akra Baha commended me but bad me preach the doctrine no more because I had already suffered enough in God's way later on Mirza Yusuf of Tabriz joined us and thinking to please Sheikh Ebrahim pretended that he too was a Barbie but when Sheikh Ebrahim feigned ignorance of the whole matter expressing surprise and in some cases mild disapproval at what Mirza Yusuf told him of the doctrines and practices of the sect the latter thinking that he had made a mistake changed his ground and told us that he had only pretended to be a convert to the new religion so as to get money from the rich and charitable Barbies at Yazd I could hardly contain my laughter as I watched Mirza Yusuf thus entangling himself in the snare set for him by the Sheikh who meanwhile never so much as mild at the success of his stratagem I expected of course that the whole story would become known to all the Barbies in Kermon but I think the Sheikh kept his own council being less concerned with the exposure of hypocrisy than with his own amusement after Mirza Yusuf's withdrawal the Sheikh having communicated to me a great deal of very scandalous gossip about the postmaster who was by way of considering as one of his best friends began to disclose with high approval the character of the free-thinking poet Nos Erechosro whose poems and apocryphal autobiography he had been recently reading the episode in the autobiography which had especially delighted him and which he repeated to me with infinite relish runs as follows note I translate from the Tabriz edition of Nos Erechosro's works lithographed in AH 1280 AD 1864 pages 6 7 end note after much trouble we reached the city of Nishapur there being with us a pupil of mine an expert and learned metaphysician now in the whole city of Nishapur there was no one who knew us so we came and took up Boroboad in a mosque as we walked through the city at the door of every mosque by which we passed men were cursing me and accusing me of heresy and atheism but the disciple knew nothing of their opinion concerning me one day as I was passing through the bazaar a man from Egypt saw and recognized me and approached me saying art thou not Nos Erechosro and is not this my brother Abu Sa'id in terror I seized his hand and engaging him in conversation led him to my lodging then I said take thirty thousand mescals of gold and refrain from divulging the secret when he had consented I at once bade my familiar spirit produced that sum gave it to him and thrust him out from my lodging then I went with Abu Sa'id to the bazaar halted at the shop of a cobbler and gave him my shoes to repair that we might go forth from the city when suddenly a clamor made itself heard near at hand and the cobbler hastened in the direction whence the sounds proceeded after a while he returned with a piece of flesh on the end of his braddle what inquired I was the disturbance and what is this piece of flesh why? replied the cobbler it appears that one of Nasser al-Khusro's disciples appeared in the city and began to dispute with the doctors thereof these repudiated his assertions each inducing some respectable authority while he continued to quote in support of his views verses of Nasser al-Khusro so the clergy tore him in pieces as a meritorious action and I too to meritor reward cut off a portion of his flesh when I learned what had befallen my disciple I could no longer control myself and said to the cobbler give me my shoes for one should not tarry in a city where the verses of Nasser al-Khusro are recited so I took my shoes and came forth with my brother from Nishapur the sheikh then recited to me the two following fragments of Nasser al-Khusro's verse which it will be allowed are sufficient to account for the lack of favor wherewith he was regarded by the clergy of Nishapur elahi rast guyan fitne az tost vali az tars natvanam cakidan agarigi be kaf shekhod nadawri cera bayast sheytun al-Faridan labodendawne chuban khatawra badin chubi naboyast al-Faridan be ahu mizani hey hey kebegris betawzi mizani hey bardavidan O God although through fear I hardly dare to hint it all our troubles brings from thee hadst thou no sand or gravel in thy shoes what prompted thee to bid the devil be to her well and thou hadst made the lips and teeth of tartar beauties not so fair to see with cries of on thou bids the hound pursue with cries of on thou bids the quarry flee nasser al-Khusro bedashti migozasht mastilo yaqel nachun mei chawragon ma brazidid o mazori roberu bong barzad goft kei nazawragon nit matedonyal va nit mat churbin inch nit mat inch nit mat chawragon dead drunk not like a common sort one day nasser al-Khusro went to take the air hard by a dunhy pier spider grave and straightway cried o ye who stand and stare behold the world behold its luxuries its dainties here the fools who ate them there air evening was past the sheikh like nasser al-Khusro was dead drunk not like a common sort and finally to my great relief went to sleep wrapped in his cloak in a formless heap on the floor where we left him till morning he awoke very late and was sipping his morning tea with a begon air which contrasted strangely with his vivacity of the previous day when visitors were announced and my disagreeable acquaintance Haaji Mohammed Khan accompanied by a pleasant well-informed mullah named Haaji Sheikh Jaafar of Karbala entered the room he was more than usually impertinent and inquisitive inquired when sheikh ebrahim had come to the garden and on learning from me that he had been there since the previous night lifted his eyebrows in surprise remarking that the sheikh had said he came that morning early and then proceeded to inquire pointedly how the postmaster was and whether I had any fresh news from Adrianople or Akra meaning of course to imply his belief that I was a barbie finally however Nao eb Hassan came to the rescue reminding me in a loud voice that I had accepted an invitation to visit Hormoziar one of my Zoroastrian friends at his garden he omitted to mention that the engagement was for the evening but the intimation had the desired effect of causing Haji Mohammed Khan to retire taking the divine with him I now wish to go out but to this sheikh ebrahim objected declaring that it was too hot so he had lunch and then adjourned to the summer house where he fell asleep over my barbie history on awakening from his nap he was more like his usual self and began to entertain me with his conversation so you met Sheikh S the barbie courier at Shirans did you he began a fine old fellow he is too and has had some strange experiences did he tell you how he ate the letters no I replied tell me about it ah he continued he is not given to talking much well you must know that he goes to Akhra once every year to convey letters from the friends in Persia and elsewhere and to bring back replies he takes Esfahan, Shirans Yazd and the south while Dervish Khavar takes Mozanderan Gilan and the northern part of Iraq riding about on a donkey selling drugs and passing himself off as an idealist the Sheikh however goes everywhere on foot save when he has to cross the sea and this I fancy he only does when he cannot well avoid it at least since a ship in which he was a passenger was wrecked between Bousheer and Basra and everyone on board drowned save himself and another Dervish who managed to keep themselves above water by means of floating wreckage until after 14 or 15 hours exposure they were drifted ashore as a rule he so times his return from the interior as to reach Bousheer early in the month of Zel-Hed-Jer whereby he is unable to join the pilgrims bound for Jeddah and Mecca after the conclusion of the pilgrimage he makes his way to Akhra where he generally stays about two months while the letters which he has brought are being answered though he is not perhaps honored by admission to Baha's presence more than once or twice during this period he is in many ways a privileged person being allowed to go into the Andarun women's apartments when he pleases and to sit with outstretched feet and uncovered head even in the presence of the masters of Goyan that is Baha's sons when the letters are all answered he packs them into his wallet takes his staff and sets off by way of Beirut for Mosul where he stays for about a month with Zainul Mokarabin of whom I told you a few days ago thence he makes his way down the Tigris to Baghdad and so across the frontier into Persia he walks always off the beaten track to avoid recognition and for the same reason seldom enters a town or village saved to buy sufficient bread and onions he is passionately fond of onions to last him several days these he packs away in his wallet on the top of the letters at night he generally sleeps in a graveyard or in some other unfrequented spot where he is not likely to be disturbed unless there be some of the friends in the place where he halts in which case, they are always glad to give him a night's lodging well, it was about his eating his letters that I was going to tell you once in the course of his travels he was recognized in a village near Yazd arrested, locked up in an empty room to await examination by the Qad-Khodar the Qad-Khodar chance to be engaged when word was brought to him that the barbie courier had been caught leave him locked up where he is said he till I can come now the sheikh is a man of resource and finding that the Qad-Khodar did not immediately come to examine him he began to cast about for some means of destroying the compromising letters in his wallet that if these should fall into the hands of the enemy the writers would get into trouble unluckily there was no fire nor any means of making one and the earth which formed the floor of the room was too hard to dig a hole in even if it would have been safe to bury the letters in a place whence they could not afterwards be removed there was only one thing left to do namely to eat them and this the sheikh proceeded to do it was a tough meal for their total weight amounted to several pounds and some of them were written on thick strong paper in particular there was one great packet from Rafsenjan which cost the sheikh a world of trouble and on the senders of which as I have myself heard him say he lavished a wealth of curses and expletives ere he finally succeeded in chewing it up and swallowing it at length however the whole mass of correspondence was disposed of and when his persecutors arrived there was the old sheikh with a very dry mouth I expect and likely enough somewhat uneasy within sitting there as innocent looking as could be the Khad Khodar and his men didn't pay much heed to that though nor to his protestations but when they had turned his wallet inside out and searched all his pockets and found not so much as the vestige of a letter to reward them for their pains they were rather taken aback and began to think they had made a mistake they gave him the bastinado to make all sure but as he continued to protest that he was no barbie and no courier he knew nothing about any letters at all they eventually had to let him go we were interrupted by the unwelcome arrival of Sayed Hossein of Jandadh and quickly as I pushed the barbie history under a cushion he noticed the movement and forthwith proceeded to make himself disagreeable an accomplishment in which he excelled to sheikh Ebrahim persistently and pointedly asking him about wine where the best qualities were manufactured how and when it was usually drunk and the like on all of which points the sheikh professed himself perfectly ignorant the Sayed however continued to discourse in this uncomfortable strain concluding severely with the aphorism Mendena Bideenin lazimahu ahkamu whosoever professeth the faith its laws are binding on him presently the Farraj Baal she's servant Abdullah who as one of the sheikhs intimates joined us and we had tea but the Sayed continued to act in the same aggressive and offensive manner inquiring very particularly whether the cup placed before him had been properly purified since last it touched my infidel lips Mirza Yusof of Tabriz who had brought it answered pertly enough and put the old man in a still worse temper so that I was very glad when now Ebb Hassan reminded me in a loud voice that it was time to set out for the garden of Hormuz Yahr whose guest I was to be that evening and the Sayed departed grumbling as he went you have already forgotten the advice I gave you the other day eat no man's bread and grudge not your own bread to anyone Sheikh Ebrahim though uninvited insisted on accompanying me and now Ebb Hassan to Hormuz Yahr's entertainment we found about 20 guests there assembled all with the exception of ourselves and Fatahullah the minstrel Zoroastrians and Rashid's Shahri Yahr's Din Yahr's and Hormuz Yahr's Keh Khosro's and Khodal Mouraud's Bahman's, Bahrom's, Esfand Yahr's and Mehrabon's the entertainment was on a magnificent scale the minstrel sang well and the pleasure of the evening was only marred by the conduct of Sheikh Ebrahim who got disgustingly drunk and behaved in the most indecorous manner but that he came under Yahr Ejis said Hormuz Yahr to me afterwards when I apologized for his behavior and explained how he had forced his company upon me we would have tied his feet to the poles and given him the sticks for if sticks be not for such drunken brutes as him I know not for what they were created but I admit that he was right but for all that I was unable to shake off my disreputable companion who accompanied us back to the garden when we said good night to our host and slept heavily on the ground wrapped in his cloak the next day Monday 14th Shaval 24th June will ever be to me the most memorable for thereon did I come under the glamour of the poppy wizard and forged the first link of a chain which it afterwards cost me so great an effort to break thereon also was first disclosed to me that vision of antinomian pantheism which is the world of the calendar and the source of all that is wildest and strangest in the poetry of the Persians with this eventful day let me open a new chapter end of section 39 end of chapter 16 Kermon Society recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London England section 40 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section 40 chapter 17 amongst the calendars how sweet it were hearing the downward stream with half shut eyes ever to see falling asleep in a half dream to dream and dream like yonder amber light which will not leave the merbush on the height to hear each other's whispered speech eating the lotus day by day to lend our hearts and spirits holy to the influence of mild minded melancholy tenacin to the mulco jahe secand dary mano rasmo rohe calandari agar on choshast to darchori vagar in badast maro sazao secandar's pump and display be thine the calandar's habit and way be mine that if it please the eye resign while this though bad is enough for me corratul ein this was how it came about on the afternoon of this notable day about four hours before sunset I went into the town to pay some visits leaving sheikh ebrohim asleep in the garden I first went to see the Frenchman about whose health I had heard the most quieting reports which fortunately turned out to be exaggerated having remained with them for rather more than half an hour I proceeded to the house of the young artillery officer whose acquaintance I had made through the sheikh of Gom while I was sitting there conversing with him and watching the grotesque antics of a large tame monkey and tar which he kept as a pet I first became conscious of an uneasy sensation in my eye my host too noticed that it appeared inflamed and bad one of his servants bring a bowl of iced water that I might bathe it so far from deriving any benefit from this treatment however it rapidly grew worse so that on my return to the garden I was in considerable pain now Ostal Akbar the Peaparcher whenever I urged him to tell me more about the bob and his religion used to declare that he could not talk freely on this topic save in some place where there was no fear of his being overheard and it had therefore been arranged a day or two previously that on this evening he and a select company with his bobby friends to wit sheikh ebrahim of Erag the farrosh boshi's man Abdullah and the azali minstrel Fatullah should sup with me in the garden and spend the night there just as I was going out in the afternoon Ostal Akbar had come to the garden bringing with him a bobby merchant whom I will call Ahmad Hassan of Yazd just arrived on business in Kermon from the little village in Rafsenjan where he dwelt he having heard from Ostal Akbar an account of myself was so curious to see me that he insisted on it once paying me a visit and no sooner were they seated than the Peaparcher began to introduce him in his usual wild language here is Akbar Mohammed Hassan said he come to do penance before you and entreat your forgiveness for his shortcomings in that when you passed through Rafsenjan he neither came out to meet you nor brought you into his house nor set you on your journey I have scolded him well saying Akbar Mohammed Hassan the Holy Spirit Ruhul Qods passed through Rafsenjan and you had not so much as a word of welcome nor advanced one foot from the other are you not ashamed of yourself he is now duly ashamed of himself and will not be content till he receives from your lips the assurance of his pardon I was in a hurry to get rid of my visitors as I had to go into the town so half assenting to Akbar Mohammed Hassan's proposal that I should spend a few days with him at the village before leaving the province of Kermon and inviting him to join us at supper that evening when we should be able to talk to our hearts content I bade them farewell for the present on my return to the garden about an hour after sunset I found these two and Sheikh Ebrahim awaiting me my eye was now so painful that I determined to cover it with a bandage which at once called the attention of my guests to its condition they all expressed the greatest concern and Ostaak Bar begged me to allow him to try a remedy which he had never known to fail in this request he was so importunate that at last I most foolishly consented there upon he went out into the garden and gathered some leaves from the hollyhock or other similar plant with which he soon returned then he called for an egg broke it into a cup removed the yoke leaving only the white and bade me lie down on the floor on my back and if possible keep the inflamed eye open then he poured the white of the egg over the eye covered it up with the leaves and entreated me to remain still as long as I could that the treatment might work it did work in two or three minutes the pain became so acute that I could bear it no longer and called for warm water to wash away the horrid mess which half blinded me Ostaak Bar remonstrated but I told him that the remedy was worse than the disease ah said he it is clear that I have made a mistake when you told me that you had been bathing your eye in iced water I assumed that this cold was the cause of the affection and so I applied a hot remedy now it is evident that it is due not to cold but to heat so that a cold remedy should be applied and I know one which will not disappoint you thank you I rejoined if it is anything like the last I should prefer to have nothing to do with it it is nothing like the last he answered what I would suggest is that you should smoke a pipe of opium that is a cold drug most potent in the treatment of hot maladies and of its efficacy you cannot but have heard opium there was something fascinating about the idea the action on the mental functions exercised by narcotic drugs had always possessed for me a special interest and though the extremely unpleasant results of an experiment on the subjective effects of cannabis indica indian hemp which I had tried while a student at st. Botholomew's hospital had somewhat cooled my enthusiasm for this sort of research the remembrance of that dreadful evening when time and space seemed emerging in confused chaos and my very personality appeared to be undergoing disintegration had now sufficiently lost its vividness to make me not unwilling to caught some fresh experience of this kind so after a few moments reflection I signified my willingness to try Ostaakbar's new cure and ten minutes later my whole being permeated with that glow of tranquil beatitude conscious of itself may almost exultant in its own peaceful serenity which constitutes the fatal charm of what the persians call par excellence the antidote at this juncture the young azalea minstrel and soon afterwards Abdullah arrived and we adjourned to the summer house where Haulji Safar had spread a cloth on which were disposed dishes of fruits, sweets and aljil pistachio nuts melon seeds and the like strongly salted to wet the appetite and bottles of wine and Arab the conversation though it did not flag was at first quite enough my guests spoke in the usual strain of the succession of prophetic cycles of the progressive character of revelation and of the increasing strength of the theophanic sun in each appearance the lord jesus said they was as the sun shining in the fourth heaven which is the station of the spirit maqaume ru muhammad was in the fifth heaven which is the station of reason maqaume agl the noctae bayan his holiness our lord the supreme that is the bob appeared yet higher in the sixth heaven or station of love maqaume ashq and bahal in whom all previous manifestations find their fulfillment and consummation occupies the seventh or highest heaven and is a perfect manifestation of the unseen and incomprehensible essence of the divinity then suddenly someone bad the minstrel sing and he in high pitched plaintive voice every modulation of which seemed to stir the soul to its very depths burst forth with an ode albie heroine corratul ein whereof the translation which i hear give can but dimly reflect the passion and the fire the thralls of yearning love constrain in the bonds of pain and calamity these broken hearted lovers of vine to yield their lives in their zeal for thee though with sword in hand darling stand with intent to slay though i sinless be if it pleases him this tyrants whim i am well content with his tyranny as in sleep i lay at the dawn of day that cruel charmer came to me and in the grace of his form and face the dawn of the mourn i seem to see the musk of kathay again from the scent those fragrant tresses rain while his eyes demolish a faith in vain attacked by the pagans of tartary with you who contend both love and wine for the hermit cell and the zealot shrine what can i do for our faith divine you hold as a thing of infamy the tangled curls of thy darlings hair in thy saddle and steed are thine only care in thy heart the infinite hath no share nor the thought of the poor man's poverty secander's pomp and display be thine the calander's habit and way be mine that if it please the i resign while this though bad is enough for me the country of i and we forsake home in annihilation make since fearing not this step to take thou shalt gain the highest felicity note this translation together with the original text i first published in the journal of the royal asiatic society for 1889 the former at pages 936 to 7 the latter at page 991 the snippet of those not accustomed to this style of mystical verse in which the persian so greatly delight i may remark that by such terms as the beloved the darling the friend and the like god or in this case the bob is intended that the cruelty and tyranny attributed to him are not regarded as reproaches but rather as these of his independence est et banale that islam is the faith demolished by his eyes though in vain attacked by the pagans of tartary and that couplets 5 and 6 are addressed respectively to the dry votaries of orthodox piety and to such as care only for the world and its pleasures when he had finished this food and the cries of a jaun oh my life and korbonat gardam may i be thy sacrifice which interjected more than once even in the course of the song burst forth with uncontrollable enthusiasm at its conclusion had ceased the minstrel once more began to sing i cannot recall the actual words of this song save in a few places but the general tenor of it was not far from the paraphrase which i hear offer as you gaze on the heaving oceans foam a myriad bubbles meet your eye the raindrops fall from their heavenly home to ascend no more it would seem on high but all shall return when their races run one their source is one through glasses of every tint and hue fair and bright shine the rays of light some may be violet and some be blue some be orange and some be white but in essence and origin all are one for the source of all is the radiant sun beaker and flaggin and bowl and jar of earth or crystal or fine however the potter may make or mar still may serve to contain the wine should we this one seek or that one shun when the wine which lends them their worth is one again the minstrel was silent and sheikh ebrahim with flushed face and glittering eyes began to speak yes said he we are all one but matter of the vessels differ in honor and degree from one another when in truth their honor is but from the wine they hold which perisheth not though they be broken in pieces and what is this wine which perisheth not which pervadeeth all things God you will answer then what I say again is God an imaginary abstraction of your own personality and conceptions thrown on the sky above each e'sh me be mo'sa maw di day yo'si go fo lo me gol gol chi day e'sh me josti ro mo'sa maw ro beju nah bebo lo don nah andar o beju didst ere a name without an object see or color rose from aro s and e thou seeks the name to find the object try the moons not in the stream but in the sky what then means the meeting with God spoken of in the Quran who are those who shall meet their lord can you meet an abstraction nay is not this abstraction after all but the creation of your own mind and as such dependent on you and inferior to you no God is something real visible tangible definite go to Akra and see God now God forbid I exclaimed in utter horror of the frightful anthropomorphism the suddenly laid bear before me God forbid that it should be so why the very verse which you cited from the Masnavi bears witness against you the moons not in the stream but in the sky that is to say as I understand it look for the reality outside and beyond this phenomenal world not in these transient reflections whereby clearly or dimly it is mirrored amongst mankind the mirror wholly depends on the original and owes all to it the original stands in no need of the mirror exalted is God above that which they allege then fat holla the minstrel broken as Ratteferangii he exclaimed all these ideas and thoughts about God which you have yay your very doubts and wonderings are your creatures and you are their creator and therefore above them even according to the verse you quote exalted is God above that which they allege Jesus who is the spirit God Ruholla past in his church and is manifested in them therefore was it that when his holiness the pointer revelation that is the Bob was asked what are the Ferangii's he replied they are spirit you are today the manifestation of Jesus you are the incarnation of the Holy Spirit did you but realize it you are God God forbid I exclaimed again speak not after this impious fashion and know that I regard myself as the least of God's servants and the most inconsistent and unworthy of those who profess to take the Lord Jesus as their pattern and exemplar verily I am a man like unto you shouted shaykh ebrahim the said the prophet whose object like all the prophets who proceeded and followed him was to make us men so said Bahar to me in Akra I desire that all men should become even as I am if anyone says that Bahar has attained to anything where until also may not attain he lies and is an ignorant fool here he glad fiercely round the assembly to see if anyone would venture to contradict him and as no one did so continued on the forehead of every man is written in that writing where of you what either here there muqmin this is a believer or here there this is an infidel on that side of your forehead uncovered by the bandage which you have bound over your eye I read here there muq and I know that were the bandage removed I should see min written on the other side Oh Jan Narbis Soheb Oh Hasrat e Ferangi when you go back to Ferangistan you must stir up trouble and mischief you must make them all barbies they talked much after this fashion while I listened in consternation half frightened at their vehemence half disgusted at their doctrines yet with all held spell bound by their eloquence Was this then for myself the root of the matter the heart of that doctrine which promised so fairly whereof the votaries whom I have hitherto met seemed so conspicuous for their probity piety, sobriety and doubtness have I mistaken for a gleam of heaven sent light a will of the wisp born of the dead disintegrated creeds of Mazdak and the terrible old man of the mountain before the daggers of whose emissaries the chivalry of east and west fell like the grass before the scythe of the mower and have I tracked it onwards step by step only to find at last that its home is in this quagmire of antinomian anthropomorphism or are these indeed no more barbies than they are mohammedans but men who in true persian fashion disguise atheism in the garb of religion and bedeck it with the trinkets of a mystical terminology at length, long after midnight we adjourned for supper in the other buildings and at the conclusion of the meal jaykh ebrohim's conversation grew so blasphemous and disgusting that on the first opportunity I arose and returned distressed and angry to the summer house followed by my guests the merchant from rafsenjan whose conversation had throughout been more moderate and reasonable than that of the others and that holla or the minstrel whose vehemence was the outcome of an emotional and excitable nature not of wine which he assured noticed my disgust and approached me to inquire its cause what is it that has offended me I replied what should it be but jaykh ebrohim's disgusting behaviour the all controlling influence exerted by the prophetic word over the hearts of men is one of the chief proofs to which you appeal in support of your religion is not wine forbidden in your religion as rigorously as in islam what is the use of your professing all this devotion to him whom you regard as the mouthpiece of god and kissing the ketalbeak das you regard as the word of god if you condone so gross a violation of the laws which it contains and of the laws whether of religion, ethics or good taste jaykh ebrohim at this moment staggered up to us with cries of drunken defiance and laying his hand on my arm demanded what we were talking about I shook him from me the gesture of uncontrollable loathing and followed by the other two retired to a little distance from the summer house you are right they rejoined as soon as we were out of jaykh ebrohim's sight and hearing and the jaykh's conduct is to be deplored but then old habits will force themselves to the surface at times after all to know and recognize the truth is the great thing but action is better than ascent said I and to do is greater than to know what think you of this parable which we find in our gospels and I repeated to them the parable of the two sons bitten by their father to go and do his work of whom the one said not and the other said I will not go but afterwards went I said they but for all that both were sons knowledge is like a telescope where with we view the distant land of promise we may be standing in the mud chilled by snow and sleet or drenched with rain yet with this telescope we may see and correctly describe the orange and myrtle groves of the promised land and this knowledge the shaykh has nonetheless because at times he wallows as now in the mud of sin but this vision of the promised land I replied is of no use unless you set out to reach it better is he who without seeing it or knowing where it lies carefully follows one who will lead him wither though he be compelled to walk blindly then he who supinely gazes at it through this telescope they were silent for a while distressed as it seemed at my distress and somewhat ashamed of the shaykh's conduct then said the merchant of rafsinjaun sahib we will now bid you well and depart for see the dawn grows bright in the sky and we had best return nay I answered fearing lest I had offended them tarry at least till the city gates are open and sleep for a while and then depart in peace but they would not be persuaded and departed with sorrowful and downcast faces all save shaykh ebrahim who was in no condition to move and Abdullah who would not forsake his friend so I left these two in the summer house and went back to the room where we had eaten supper and bathed my eye which had again become very painful and after a time fell asleep it was the afternoon of the next day when I awoke and learned with some relief that Abdullah had departed soon after the other guests and the shaykh about noon my eye was so painful that it was impossible to think of going out and there was nothing to distract my attention from the pain which I suffered for to read was of course impossible till about three hours before sunset a telegram from my friend the chief of the telegraph at Yazd was brought to me informing me that he had just received my letter and had answered it by the day's post and inquiring after my health the telegram must have travelled very slowly or the letter very fast for hardly had I finished writing the answer to the former when the letter was brought by the postmaster of Kermon who was accompanied by the young agent in the letter which was most kindly worded were enclosed copies of two poems for which I had asked the one by note of this poem which is written in the same rhyme and meter as that translated at page 490 the text and translation will be found at pages 314 to 16 of volume 2 of my traveller's narrative end note the other by Genobe Mariam the sister of the Bob's First Apostle Mola Hussein of Bushraway these I showed to my visitors who read them with manifest delight and the subject being thus introduced the conversation turned on the Bobbies and especially on Curratul Ein of whose death the postmaster gave me the following account which he professed to have had from the lips of her jailer Mahmood Khan the Calon Tar the day before she suffered martyrdom said the postmaster she told those about her that her death was to take place saying tomorrow evening the Shah will send after me and his message will come riding I will desire me to mount behind him this I do not wish to do wherefore I pray you to lend me one of your horses and to send one of your servants to escort me next day all this came to pass when she was brought in before the Shah in the palace of the Negaristan and bidden to renounce the Bob she refused and persisted in her refusal so she was cast into a well which is in the garden and four large stones were thrown down upon her and the well was then filled up with earth as for Mahmood Khan he was as you know strangled by order of the father of Prince Nasser Ad-Dole our governor during the bread riots in Tehran and his body dragged by the feet through the streets and bazaars note the accounts of Koratul Ain's death are very various but this one at least I do not regard as having any claims to authenticity compare Gobi knows religions and philosophies in Central Asia pages 292-95 Polax Pezien Volume 1 page 353 my traveller's narrative volume 2 pages 313-314 end note the postmaster also talked a little about the Azali's saying that they were more numerous at Kermon than anywhere else and that even in Kermon they were but few in number amongst them he mentioned Fat Holah the minstrel and a certain Molah who will call Molah Haudi but the sheikh of Qom he would not include in his enumeration for said he though he sympathizes with the Azali's and courts their society he is in point of fact a free thinker and a materialist after the departure of these guests I was visited by my Zoroastrian friends Gozhdarsp and Feridun with me and to inquire after the ophthalmia repeating over and over again Bad Naboshad may it not end ill till I was depressed not a little Monday 8th July 28th Shavval this morning I received a visit from one Murtaza Golihaon Afshar who soon after his arrival produced a great role of verse in manuscript from which he proceeded to read me selections this verse was I fancy his own composition but about the writer I could learn no more than that his poetical pseudonym Tachalos was Binaval and that he was still living my visitor was very anxious to give me the manuscript so that I might take it back to Europe and get it printed but I excused myself assuring him that it could be better and more conveniently published in Persia in point of fact it was not worth publishing anywhere being remarkable only for its monotonous harping on the topics of death corruption and the torments of hell and for its badness of taste and style over and over again was this idea repeated in substance how many moon faced beauties whose stature was as that of the Cyprus tree have gone down into the grave with only scorpions snakes worms and ants for their companions in their narrow bed only one poem in praise of the reigning king the beast variety this began with an account of the shah's travels in Europe which was followed by a description of the barbie rising and its suppression a long passage being devoted to Coratul Ain my visitor remained with me for some time after I had succeeded in checking this recitation of doggerel but his conversation was not much more lively than his verse in fact of nothing else but the horrors of hell and the delights of paradise both of which he depicted in the crudest and most grossly material colours Tuesday 9th July 29th Chaval this evening I was again the guest of the Zoroastrians at the garden of Mola Serous and sat down to supper with some 25 followers of good religion the evening passed much as usual with wine, song and minstrelsy save that one feroze by name having taken rather more to drink than was good for him a rare thing amongst the Zoroastrians favoured the company with a rather vulgar imitation of the performances of dancing boys there was some talk of Zoroasta and the miracles ascribed to him at the end of the descent to earth of ten flames al-Zar distinguished from fire al-Tash by being devoid of all property of scorching or burning three of these so my hosts informed me had returned to heaven and one had in recent times migrated from Khorasan where it suffered neglect it was not till after midnight that I was suffered to depart and then only on giving a promise that I would return first thing the next morning it was on this night that a jerk of the chain which I had suffered syropium to wind round me first made me conscious of the fact that I had dallied over long with him eight days had now elapsed and the alliance began and though I had smoked what may well be termed the pipe of peace pretty regularly during this period the fact that once or twice I had abstained from smoking it at the usual time without suffering inconvenience had lulled me into a false sense of security after all I said to myself a great deal of exaggeration is current about these things for how few of those in England who talk so glibly about the evils of opium smoking and waste their time and other people's money in trying to put a stop to it have any practical acquaintance at all with it and on the other hand how many of my friends here when they feel depressed and worried or want to pass a quiet evening with a few congenial friends in discussing metaphysics and ontology indulge in an occasional pipe however this resolution I make that on the day when I shall be well enough to go out of this garden again I lay aside my pretty opium pipe Valfour and it's Seach Cleaning Rod and it's Anbor Charcoal Tongues which shall be to me thence forth butters curiosities hang up in my college rooms when I get back to Cambridge well tonight as I reluctantly admitted to myself the time had come to put my resolution into practice and how did I do it I kept it after a fashion just for that one night and what a night it was in vain I longed for sleep in vain I tossed to and fro on my couch till the stars grew pale in the sky for an indefinable craving to which was presently super-added a general sense of uneasiness pervading all the facial nerves warred with the weariness which possessed me I was ashamed to wake my servant and bid him kindle of fire else had my resolution not held even for one night indeed as it was it can hardly be said to have held since at last in desperation I drenched some tobacco in Lordenham taken from the little medicine chest I had with me rolled it into a cigarette and tried though with but little satisfaction to smoke it and this is the way of opium you may smoke it occasionally at long intervals and feel no after craving you may smoke it for two or three days consecutively and abandon it without difficulty then you may after an interval of one or two days do the like once more and again forsake it and then having smoked it once or twice again you will try to put it from you as before and you will find that you cannot that the fetters are forged which likely enough you will wear forever so next day I relapsed into bondage and when a few days later I told my plight to a friend of mine the prince's secretary and an azali barbie who was a confirmed valfuri opium smoker he clapped his hand on his thigh and exclaimed hello digar gosasht valfurisho deid now at any rate it is all over you have become an opium smoker neither did he say this without a certain air of contentment if not of exaltation for it is a curious fact that although the opium smoker will as a rule never tire of abusing his tyrant he will almost always rejoice to see another led into the same bondage and will take the new captive by the hand as a brother end of section 40 recording by nicolas james bridgewater recorded in london england