 Section 35 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. I did not go out next day till about three hours before sunset, when the postmaster sent his servant to bring me to his house. I conversed with him for about two hours and he inquired very particularly about the signs which should hurl Christ's coming. But did not make any further allusion to the beliefs of the Barbies which I believe were his own. Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of one of the Hindus who wished me to inspect the scene of the recent robbery which I agreed to do. We found all the other Hindus assembled in the Carvan Saris where they lodged and I was at once shown the inner room whence the safe containing as they declared four hundred tumours in cash and fourteen thousand tumours in checks and letters of credit had been abstracted by the thieves who as it was supposed had entered by the chimmy. Ten or fifteen men had been arrested on suspicion by the governor, Mirza Hedayatullah, but as there was no sufficient evidence against any of them they had been released. I took notes of these matters and promised to bring them to the notice of some of my friends in the English Embassy if I got the chance. And we then conversed for a time while I smoked a galyan which they brought me. They questioned me closely as to the objects of my journey and refused to credit my assertion that I was travelling for my own instruction and amusement declaring that I must be an agent of the English government. Why didn't you take Persia? said one of them at length. You could easily if you liked. I suppose the thief who took your money put the same question to himself with regard to it, I reply. And yet you feel that you have a just ground of complaint against him. People have no right to take their neighbour's property even if they think they can do so with impunity and states are no more entitled to steal than individuals. The Hindus appear to be still unconvinced and my sympathy for their loss was considerably abated. I returned to the postmaster's house for supper after which he caused soft pillows and bolsters to be brought and insisted on my resting for a couple of hours before starting. At the end of this time Haji Safar awoke me to tell me that the Karavan was ready to start and after a final cup of tea and a hasty farewell to my kind host I was once more on the road. We lost our way at the very start and wandered about for some time in the starlight until we came to one or two small houses the Nayib Chopar of Bahramabad who had joined our party hammered at the door of one of these till an old peasant aroused from his sleep came out and directed us on our way. But this did not satisfy the Nayib Chopar who compelled the poor old man to accompany us for a mile or so which he rather unwillingly did. Though to Ghirans which I gave him as he was leaving us more than satisfied him for the trouble he had incurred about dawn while still distant some two parasangs from our halting place Kabut Ar-Khan we passed a company of men with a young girl enveloped in a white chador who were going down to Karman and exchanged a few words with them we reached the post house of Kabut Ar-Khan which seemed to be entirely in the charge of a very quaint old women about an hour after sunrise and remained there till about three hours after sunset when we again set out for Bahrain. The man who had been our companion on the previous stage again joined us being now mounted on a very small donkey which he had hired for 30 shahis, about two pens to take him to Bahrain a little boy named Abbas accompanied the donkey and several times the man dismounted to allow him to ride for a while on which occasions he would break out into snatches of song in his sweet childish voice. Before we reached Bahrain the great broad plain running towards the southeast which we had followed since leaving Yaz began to close in and mountains appeared in front of us as well as on either hand soon after dawn we reached Bahrain which is a small village surrounded by a considerable extent of cultivated ground and as usual put up at the post house here we remained till four hours after sunset when the meals were loaded up for the last time for that night's march was to bring us to our journeys in our course now lay nearly due east along a good level road and when the dawn began to brighten over the hills before us Kerman nestling as it seemed at a very food of their black cleaves and wrapped like one of her daughters in a thin white mantle of mist and smoke gladdened our straining eyes my original intention had been to alight in the first instance at a post house but as this proved to be situated at some distance outside the city walls and as I was eager to be in the very center of the town without further delay I decided to take up my quarters instead at one of the Carvan series it was fortunate that I did so for events so shaped themselves that my sojourn at Kerman instead of lasting only ten days or a fortnight as I then intended was prolonged for more than two months and for reasons soon to be mentioned it would probably have been difficult for me to have quitted the post house if I had once taken up my about there without offending my good friend the postmaster of Kerman on entering the city we first made our way through the bazaars to the Carvan series of the Vakil which we were told was the best but here there was no room to be had so after some delay during which I was surrounded by a little crowd of sightseers we proceeded to the Carvan series of Haji Ali Aqa where I obtained a lodging while the beasts were being unloaded I was accosted by two Zoroastrians one of whom proved to be Ardeshire Mehraban's agent Mullah Guastas all the Zoroastrians in Kerman are entitled Mullah even by the Muhammadan they came to my room and sat down for a while and Guastas told me that he had found a place for me to stay in during my surgeon at Kerman in a garden outside the town they soon left me and after a wash and a shave I slept till nearly noon when I was awakened by a pharrosh from the telegraph office who was the bearer of a telegram from Cambridge which had been sent on from Shiraz the original which of course was in English arrived by post the same evening and ran pleased authorized name candidate for Persian readership Neil the Persian translation made I believe at Qashan where the wires from Shiraz and Kerman to the capital Jordan was as follows I have a request to you for the Persian translation please Neil I was rather overwhelmed by the reflection that even here at Kerman I was not beyond the reach of that irrepressible nuisance of this age of ours electricity Haji Safar had already succeeded in discovering a relative in Kerman a cousin on his mother's side as I understood a sleek widely looking man of about 50 generally known as Noyeb Hassan whom he brought to see me while he was with me a Greek of Constantinople who had turned Mosulman and settled in Kerman joined the party and conversed with me a little in Turkish then came servants from the telegraph office to inquire on the part of their master a prince as well as a telegraphist but then as I have already remarked princes are not rare in Persia how I did and when I would come and visit him for I had an introduction to him from my friends at Yaz who had also written to him about me and hard on the heels of these came the son of the postmaster of Kerman to whom also I had letters of recommendation though that I had hardly a moment's leisure this last visitor carried me off to see his father at the central post office in the town the postmaster a kindly looking man past middle age with a grey moustache and a rank of Colonel Sartip gave me a most friendly welcome but reproached me for being a day later than he had been led to expect by the postmaster of Bahramabad who appeared to have sent him a message concerning me although I am in poor health said he and am as you see lame in one foot I wrote out nearly three parasangs to meet you yesterday for I wish to be the first to welcome you to Kerman and I also wanted to tell you that the Chapar Khane which is well built and comfortable and is intended for a residence is entirely at your disposal and that I hope you will stay in it while you're here I next proceeded to the telegraph office to visit the prince whom I found sitting at the instrument with his pretty little son opposite him he in turn insisted that I should take up my abode at a new telegraph office which had just been completed for him and it was with great difficulty that I got him to Aquius in the plan which I had formed of inspecting the three residences chosen for me in advance by my kind friends of Kerman indeed I was somewhat embarrassed by their hospitality for I was afraid that whichever place I selected I could hardly help to avoid giving offense to the owners of the other two as, however it was clear that I could not live in all of them I decided in my own mind that I would just choose the one I liked best and accordingly after I had conversed for a short while with the prince I set off with the postmaster's son to visit the Chapargane to the north and the Zoroastrian garden to the south of the town the Chapargane proved fully worthy of the praises bestowed on it by the postmaster for the rooms in it were spacious clean and comfortable and looked out on to a pleasant garden we smoked a cigarette there while horses were saddled to take us to the garden of the Zoroastrians further we rode through the town which we entered by the north gate called Darvose Sultan and quitted by the south gate Darvose in the garden which was just outside the latter we found the two Zoroastrians who had first accosted me in the Carvancerie are the sheers agent Kostas and Feredun a man of about 25 years of age with both of whom I afterwards became very intimate after sitting for a while in the Chaur fast in the house which stood in the middle of the garden and partaking of the wine Arak and young cucumbers which the Zoroastrians according to their usual custom had brought with them we returned together to the Carvancerie Nayib Hasan presently joined us and outstayed all my other visitors as he seemed inclined to take the part of the three proposal advisor I informed him of the difficulty in which I was placed as to the selection of a lodging from the three proposal after reflecting a moment he said Sahe you must of necessity run the risk of offending two out of three persons and therefore as you cannot avoid this you need only consult your own inclination in the matter if the princes offer and take up your abode in the telegraph office you will be continually subjected to some degree of constraint and will be always surrounded by inquisitive and meddlesome servants if you go to the Chaparganee you will be outside the city and will only see the friends of the Sartip of the post office in the Ghebreyes garden on the other hand master and you will be free and unconstrained my advice therefore is that you should select the last and make polite excuses to the prince and the Sartip as this council seemed good to me I determined to act in it without delay and it was arranged at Naib Hasan's suggestion that I should transfer myself and my possessions to the garden on the following morning so that Iyeh my apologies should reach the prince and the Sartip the transfer might be an accomplished fact admitting of no further discussion soon after this Naib Hasan departed and I was left at leisure to enjoy the welcome letters which that day's post had brought me from home the move to the garden was duly affected on the following morning Wednesday the 5th of June or the 25th of Ramizan with the help of Naib Hasan Feridun and a Zoroastrian lad named Rustam who was brother to my friend Bahman of Yaz of this garden which was my residence for the next two months I may as well give a brief description in this place its extent was several acres it was entirely surrounded by a high but rather dilapidated mud wall it was divided transversely that is in a direction parallel to the main road leading to the Darvoze Nasivye or southern gate of the city which bounded it to the west by another mud wall in which was a gap which served the purpose of a gate and longitudinally by a stream not one of the negatively three hours a day streams of Yaz but a deep clear brook in which I was often able to enjoy the luxury of a base besides the summer house or char fast of which I have already spoken in which stood in the middle of the northern half of the garden about half way between the stream and the northern wall there was a larger building consisting of two rooms and a small courtyard standing on the very edge of the stream it was in this more spacious building that I established myself on my arrival using the larger of the two rooms which had windows to the east and south the former looking out into the courtyard later on to the stream for myself and leaving the smaller chamber at the back to Haji Safar and Mirza Yusuf but afterwards when the heat waxed greater though it was at no time severe I leave for the most part in the little summer house which being open to the air on all four sides was cooler and pleasanter from the larger building another wall ran westwards towards the main road leading to the Darbazana Sivye partially cutting off the southwest portion of the garden from that which I occupy this southwest or outer part of the garden appeared to be in some measure public property for often as I passed through it to reach the gate I saw groups of women washing their linen in the stream which traversed it the garden had been originally planned and laid out by former Vazir of Kerman whose son Mirza Javad a man of about 50 years of age occupied a house in another garden not far distant from this but he ear his death so at least I gather having fallen into disgrace and comparative poverty it had been neglected and suffered to run wild and was now led to some of the Zoroastrians who used it chiefly for the cultivation of plants useful either as food or medicine in truth it was rather a wilderness than a garden up by a fair and fragrant wilderness and never a calm clear summer night sweet with a scent of the rose and melodious with a song of the nightingale but I am again transported in the spirit to that enchanted ground is there one who dares to maintain that the east has lost its wonder its charm or its terror then he knows it not but he knows that outer crust of commonplace which under the chill influence of western utilitarianism and practical sense has skimmed its surface end of section 35 section 36 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings 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 36 chapter 16 Kermon Society a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section 37 section 32 of a year amongst the Persians by Edward Granville Brown section 38 of a year of a year of a year of a year since we have drawn nourishment from this earth and water. On the face of the earth there is no place like Kermann. Kermann is the heart of the world and we are men of heart. In no town which I visited in Persia did I make so many friends and acquaintances of every grade of society and every shade of piety and impiety as at Kermann. When I left I made a list of all the persons who had visited me or whom I had visited and found that the number of those whom I could remember fell but little short of a hundred. Amongst these almost every rank from the prince governor down to the mendicant Dervish was represented as well as a respectable variety of creeds and nationalities. Baluchis, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Shiites and Sunnis, Sheikhis, Sufis, Balbis, both Bahai and Azali, Dervishis and Calandars belonging to no order, fettered by no dogma and trampled by but few principles. Hitherto I had always been more or less dependent on the hospitality of friends whose feelings I was obliged to consult in choosing my acquaintances. Here in Kermann the garden where I dwelt was open to all comers and I was able without let or hindrance to pursue that object which since my arrival in Persia had been ever before me namely to familiarise myself with all even the most eccentric and antinomian developments of the Protean Persian genius. I succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations and as will presently be set forth found myself ere long in a world where of I had never dreamed and wherein my spirit was subjected to such alternation of admiration, disgust and wonder as I had never before in my life experienced. All this however did not come to me at once and would not perhaps have come at all but for a fortunate misfortune which entirely altered all my plans and prolonged the period of my stay at Kermann from the fortnight or three weeks which I had originally intended to a couple of months. For just as I was about to depart thence having indeed actually engaged a mulleteer for the journey to Shiraz by way of Sir John, Chir and Nayri's I fell a victim to a sharp attack of ophthalmia which for some weeks compelled me to abandon all idea of resuming my travels and this ophthalmia from which I suffered no little pain had another result tending to throw me more than would otherwise have been the case into the society of dervishes, dreamers and mystics. Judge me not harshly, O thou who hast never known sickness, I and for a while partial blindness in a strange land, if in my pain and my wakefulness I at length yielded to the voice of the tempter and fled for refuge to that most potent, most sovereign, most seductive and most enthralling of masters opium. Unwisely I may have acted in this matter though not as I feel altogether culpably, yet to this unwisdom I owe an experience which I would not willingly have forfeited though I am thankful enough that the chain of my servitude was snapped ere the last flicker of resolution and strenuousness finally expired in the nirvana of the opium smoker. I often wonder if any of those who have returned to tell the tale in the outer world have wandered farther than myself into the flowery labyrinths of the poppy land. For of him who enters its fairy realms too true as a rule is the Persian opium smoker's epigram. Sir opium of ours for every ill is a remedy swift and sure, but he, if you bear for a while his yoke is an ill which knows no cure. Although it was some while after my arrival in Kermon that I became numbered amongst the intimates of the aforesaid sir opium. He lost no time in introducing himself to my notice in the person of one of his faithful votaries Mirza Hossein Goli of BAM, a pleasant gentle dreamy soul of that type which most readily succumbs to the charm of the poppy who came to visit me in Na'eb Hassan's company on the very day of my entry into the garden. Soon after this too I came into daily relations with another bondsman of the all potent drug, one Abdul Hossein whom Haji Safar in accordance with the agreement made between himself and myself at Yazd had hired to look after my horse. He was far advanced on the downward path and often when sent to buy bread or other provisions in the shops hard by the city gate would he remain away for hours at a time and return at last without having accomplished his commission and unable to give any account of how the time had passed. This used to cause me some annoyance till such time as I too fell under the spell of the poppy wizard when I ceased to care any longer because the opium smoker cares not greatly for food or indeed for wrought else in the material world save his elixir, nay I even found a certain tranquil satisfaction in his vagaries. But I must leave for a while these delicious reminiscences and return to the comparatively uneventful fortnight which my residence at Kermon began. Of this I shall perhaps succeed in giving the truest picture by following in the main the daily entries which I made in my diary. On the day of my installment in the garden Wednesday 5th June 25th Ramazon I received several visitors besides the opium smoker of Bam. Chief among these was a certain notable sheikh of Gom whose doubtful orthodoxy had made it expedient for him to leave the sacred precincts of his native town for happy heedless Kermon. Here he succeeded in gaining the confidence and esteem of Prince Nosoro Dole the governor in whose society most of his time was passed either in consultation on affairs of state or in games of chance for which he cared the less because he was almost invariably the loser. He was a burly, genial, kind-hearted gentleman with but little of the odor of sanctity so much sought after in his native town and a fund of wit and information. I afterward saw much of him and learned that he was an azali barbie so far as he was anything at all for by many he was accounted a free thinker, Laul Mazhab. But in this first interview he gave no further indication of his proclivities than to inquire whether I had not a copy of Monakchi's new history of the barbie theophany. With him came two brothers, merchants of Yazd whom I will call Ogomohsen and Ogomohamad Saldeq. Of the former who was an Orthodox Shiite I saw but little subsequently but with the younger brother a man of singular probity and most amiable disposition I became rather intimate and from him I met with the disinterested kindness which I shall not omit to record in its proper place. He too was a barbie but a follower of Baha'u not of Azal as also was a third brother who being but a lad of 15 or 16 was suddenly so overcome by a desire to behold the face of Baha'u that he soon ran away from Kermon with only five tomans in his pocket with the set purpose of making his way to Akra on the Syrian coast in which project thanks to the help of kindly Zoroastrians at Bandare Abba's and the barbies of Bombay and Beirut he was successful. I subsequently made the acquaintance of another lad whose imagination was so stirred by this exploit that he had determined to imitate it at the first opportunity though whether or no his plan was realised I cannot say. Thursday 6th June 26th Ramazan. Soon after I was up I received a visit from Na'eb Hassan who indeed lost no time in establishing himself in the position of my guide, philosopher and friend and who seldom allowed a day to pass without giving me the pleasure of his society for a good many hours including at least one meal. With him came Rostam the young Zoroastrian of whom I have already spoken who on this occasion outstayed the Na'eb. This Rostam was a well-mannered and intelligent lad whose only fault was an unduly deferential manor which at times I found rather irksome. He asked me many questions about my country and about America, Yangidonyal the new world in which like several other Persians whom I met he appeared to take an extraordinary interest for what reason I know not since he had not the excuse of supposing like some Mohammedans that thence by some underground channel Antichrist Dajjal shall reach the well in Esfahan from which at the end of time he is to appear. In the afternoon I went into the town accompanied by Halji Safar and Mirza Yousaf notwithstanding a message which I received from the Sardar of Sistan informing me of his intention of paying me a visit. We passed the walls not by the adjacent Darvaz-e-Nauserye but by another gate called Darvaz-e-Masjed the Mosque Gate. Lying more to the west from which a busy thoroughfare thronged especially on Friday Eve with a host of beggars leads directly to the bazaars and pay to visit to my Zoroastrian friends in the caravanserai of Ganj Alikhan where for the most part their offices are situated and to the post office. In the bazaars I met a quaint looking old Hindu who persisted in addressing me in his own uncouth Hindi which he seemed to consider that I as an Englishman was bound to understand. We returned about sunset by the way we had come and met crowds of people who had been to pay their respects to a deceased saint interred in a mausoleum just outside the Mosque Gate re-entering the city. On reaching the garden I found another visitor awaiting me, an inquisitive, meddlesome, self-conceited scion of some once influential but now decayed family who in place of the abundant wealth which he had formerly possessed subsisted on a pension of 150 tomans allowed him by the prince governor in consideration of his former greatness. For this person whose name was Haji Mohamad Khan I conceived a very particular aversion. He manifested a great curiosity as to my rank, my income, and the object of my journey and presently assured me that he detected in me a remarkable likeness to the Prince of Wales with whom he declared he had struck up an acquaintance one evening at the Crystal Palace. Don't attempt to deceive me he added with many sly nods and winks. I understand how one of noble birth may for a time be under a cloud and may find it expedient to travel in disguise and to forego that state and circumstance to which he is justly entitled. I am in somewhat the same position myself but I am not going to continue thus for long. I have had a hint from the Amino Sultan and am wanted at Tehran. There are those who would like to prevent me reaching the capital he continued mysteriously but never fear I will outwit them. When you leave Kermon for Shiraz I leave it in your company and with me you shall visit Sharibah back and many other interesting places on our way wither. Now Ebb Hassan fooled him to the top of his bent unfolding vast and shadowy pictures of my power and affluence and declaring that I had unlimited credit with the Zoroastrian merchants of Kermon which falsehoods Halji Mohammed Khan whose copious libations of beer were rendering every moment more credulous and more mysterious greedily imbibed. When he had gone I remonstrated vigorously with the no ebb for his mendacity. I suppose it is no use for me to remind you that it is wicked to tell lies I remarked but at least you must see how silly and how futile it is to make assertions whereof the falsity cannot remain hidden for more than a few days and which are likely to land me in difficulties. But the no ebb only shook his head and laughed as though to say that lying was in itself an artistic and pleasurable exercise of the imagination in which when there was no reason to the contrary he might fairly allow himself to indulge. So finding remonstrance vain I presently retired to rest in some disgust. Friday 7th June 27th Ramazan In the morning I was visited by an old Zoroastrian woman who was anxious to learn whether I had heard in Tehran any talk of Aflartoun, Plato having turned Mosulman. It took me some little while to discover that the said Aflartoun was not the Greek philosopher but a young Zoroastrian in whom she was interested though why a follower of the great Mazdiasnian religion should take to himself a name like this baffles my comprehension. In the afternoon I was invaded by visitors. First of all came a Baluch chief named Afzalchon, a picturesqueled man with long black hair, a ragged mustache, very thin on the upper lip, and very long at the ends, and a singularly gorgeous coat. He was accompanied by two lean and hungry looking retainers, all skin and sword blade, but though he talked much I had some difficulty in understanding him at times since he spoke Persian after the corrupt and vicious fashion prevalent in India. He inquired much of England and the English whom he evidently regarded with mingled respect and dislike. He replied, in answer to a question which I put to him, three months journey from here, or two months if your horse be sound, swift and strong. He informed me that his language was not Baluchi but Brahuí, which is spoken in a great part of Baluchistan. The next visitors to arrive were the postmaster, Agar Mohamed Sardegh, the young Yazdi merchant of whom I have already spoken, and the eldest son of the prince telegraphist. The last upbraided me for taking up my abode in the garden instead of in the new telegraph office which his father had placed at my disposal, but his recriminations were cut short by the arrival of a Tabrizí merchant to Zoroastrians and Azali Barbie whom I will call Mollayusov to distinguish him from my Tabrizí satellite Mirzayusov who appeared on this occasion as a zealous Muslim and undertook to convince me on some future occasion of the superiority of Islam to Christianity and middle-aged man of very subdued demeanour, how deceptive may appearances be dressed in a long job bare, fares and small white turban after the manner of Asiatic Turks, to whom under the pseudonym of Sheikh Ebrahim of Sultan Aboud I shall have frequent occasion to refer in this and the succeeding chapter. These in turn were followed by four more Zoroastrians including Gush Dasp, Feridun and Rostam who outstayed the other visitors and did not depart till they had pledged me in wine after the rite of the Magians after which I had supper with Naueb Hassan and sat talking with him till nearly midnight. Saturday 8th June 28th, Ramazan. In the morning I visited one of the shawl manufacturers of Kermon in company with Rostam, Naueb Hassan and Mirzayusov of Tabriz. Our way lay through the street leading to the Mosque Gate which by reason of the Saturday market, Baozore Shembe, was thronged with people. The shawl manufacturer consisted of one large vaulted room containing 11 looms, two or three of which were standing idle. At each loom sat three workers, one skilled workman in the middle and on either side of him a shawl guard or apprentice whom he was expected to instruct and supervise. There were in all 25 apprentices ranging in years from children of six and seven to men of mature age. Their wages as I learned begin at 10 tomans about three pounds a year and increase gradually to 24 or 25 tomans about 7 pounds 10 shillings. In summer they work from sunrise to sunset and in winter they continue their work by candlelight till three hours after sunset. They have a half holiday on Friday from midday onwards, 13 days holiday at the Nohruz and one or two days more on the great annual festivals, while for food they get nothing as a rule but dry bread. Poor little Kermonis, they must toil thus deprived of good air and sunlight and debarred from the recreations and amusements which should brighten their childhood that some grandee may bedeck himself with those sumptuous shawls which, beautiful as they are, will ever more seem to me to be died with the blood of the innocents. The shawls manufactured are of very different qualities. The finest of three or three and a half ls in length require 12 or 15 months for their completion and are sold at 40 or 50 tomans apiece. Others, destined for the Constantinople market and of much coarser texture, can be finished in a month or six weeks and are sold for 10 or 15 grans. Of late however the shawl trade had been on the decline and the proprietor of this establishment told me that he was thinking of closing his workshops for a year and making a pilgrimage to Karbala hoping I suppose to win by this act of piety the divine favour which he would have better merited by some attempt to ameliorate the condition of the poor little drudges who toiled at his looms. I next visited the one fire temple which suffices for the spiritual needs of the Kermans or Oastrians and was there received by the courteous and intelligent old Dastur and my friend Feridun. I could not see the sacred fire because the Moabad whose business it was to tend it had locked it up and taken the key away with him. In general appearance this fire temple resembled those which I had seen at Yazd. I inquired as to the manuscripts of the sacred books preserved in the temple and was shown to. A copy of the Vesta of 210 leaves transcribed in the year AH 1086 AD 1675 to 6 and completed on the day of Albaun in the month of Bahman in the year 1044 of Yazdegerd by the hand of Dastur Marzabaun the son of Dastur Bahram the son of Marzabaun the son of Feridun and a copy of the Yashts completed by the hand of Dastur Esfandiar the son of Dastur Nusir Vaun the son of Dastur Esfandiar the son of Dastur Ardashir the son of Dastur Alzar of Sistan on the day of Bahman in the month of Esfand Ahmad in the year 1108 of Yazdegerd corresponding to AH 1226 AD 1811. I found that the Dastur was much interested in the occult science of Geomancy El Meramal which informed me required the assiduous study of a lifetime ere one could hope to attain proficiency. He was also very full of a rare old book called the Jormosb Nomeh of which he said only one copy stolen by a musulman named Hossein from the house of a Zoroastrian in Yazd existed in Kermon though he had information of another copy in the library of the mosque at Mashhad. This book he described as containing a continuous series of prophecies amongst which was included the announcement of the return of Shah Bahram the Zoroastrian Messiah to re-establish the good religion. This Shah Bahram to whose expected advent I have already alluded at page 395 Supra is believed to be a descendant of Hormoz the son of Yazdegerd the last Sosanion king who fled from before the Arab invaders with Peshutan and other fire priests to China once he will return to Fars by way of India in the fullness of time amongst the signs heralding his coming will be a great famine and the destruction of the city of Shostar. In the evening I went for a ride outside the city with Feridun Rostam and the son of the postmaster. We first visited a neighboring garden to see the working of one of the Dulabs generally employed in Kermon for raising water to the surface. The Dulab consisted of two large wooden wheels one set horizontally and the other vertically in the jaws of a well cogged together a blind folded cow harnessed to a shaft inserted in the axle of the former communicated a rotatory motion to the latter over which a belt of rope passed downwards into the well to a depth of about five L's to this rope earthenware pictures were attached and each picture as it came uppermost on the belt emptied its contents into a channel communicating with a small reservoir the whole arrangement was primitive picturesque and inefficient from the Dulab we proceeded to the old town adim situated on the craggy heights lying if I remember rightly to the west of the present city and said to date from the time of Ardeshir Babakon the founder of the Sausonion dynasty there are a number of ruined buildings on these heights including one known as the Gadam go where vows and offerings are made by the Kermonis from this place we proceeded to another valley closed to the south by beatling cliffs studied with cavernous openings which are said to extend far into the rock high up on the left of this valley is a little building known as Darya golly beg weather leaving our horses below we ascended and they're sat for a while drinking wine by the light of the setting sun my companions informed me that formerly the mouth of the valley below had been closed by a band or dyke and all the upper part of it converted into a gigantic lake where on boat races watched by the king and his court from the spot where we sat took place on certain festal occasions as we rode homewards in the gathering twilight the postmaster's son craved a boon of me which I think worth mentioning as illustrative of that strange yearning after martyrdom which is not uncommon amongst the Barbies bringing his horse alongside of mine at a moment when the two Zoroastrians were engaged in a private conversation he thus addressed me Soheb you intend as you have told me to visit Akra if this great happiness be allotted to you and if you look upon the blessed beauty that is do not forget me nor the request which I now prefer say if opportunity be granted you there is such and one in Kermon so and so by name whose chief desire is that his name may be mentioned once in the holy presence that he may once if it be not too much to ask be honored by an epistle and that he may then quaff the draft of martyrdom in the way of the beloved sunday 9th june 29th ramazon today i received a demonstration in giamansi el meramal from a young Zoroastrian Bahrome Behrouz who my met in Moloogosh Dosp's room in the caravancery of Gange Alichon the information about myself with which his science supplied him was almost entirely incorrect and was in substance as follows a month ago you received bad news and suffered much through some absent person 15 days ago some physical injury befell you by the next post you will receive good news in another month you'll receive very good news you are at present in good health but your calorie is in excess and the bilious humour predominates your appetite is bad and you should take some laxative medicine this is a fair specimen of the kind of answer which he who consults the ramal giamansi is likely to get but it is fair to say that Bahrome laid claim to no great proficiency in the science however he promised to introduce me to a musulman who was reputed an adept of the occult sciences including the tashkir ejen or command of familiar spirits and this promise as will presently be set forth he faithfully kept while Bahrome was busy with his giamansi a dervish boy who afterwards proved to be a barbie entered the room where we were sitting for the dervish is free to enter any assembly and to go wherever it's seemeth good to him and presented me with a white flower i gave him a gran whereupon at the suggestion of one of those present he sung a qazal or ode in a very sweet voice with a good deal of taste and feeling later on in the day i visited mirza raheem khaun the farosh baoshi and sheikh ebrahim of sultan abod whom i have already had occasion to mention the latter as i discovered had after the manner of galandars of his type taken up his abode in the house of the former till such time as he should be tired of his host or his host of him thence i went to the house of the sheikh of gum where i met two young artillery officers brothers one of whom subsequently proved to be an azali barbie i was more than ever impressed with the sheikh's genial kindly manner and wide knowledge i inquired of him particularly as to the most authentic and esteemed collections of shia traditions and he mentioned two the met rojo saodats a scent of happiness and a very large and detailed work in 15 or 16 volumes by jamal o deen hasan eben yusuf eben ali of helah entitled al lauma the great doctor called behar al anvar oceans of light we then talked for a while about metaphysics and he expressed astonishment at the lack of interest in the subject generally prevalent in europe after which we passed by a natural transition to the doctrines of the sheikhs and barbies about which he gave me not a little information it had been intended that i should visit the prince governor in company with the sheikh but the visit was postponed as the prince sent word that he was indisposed and wished to sleep in the evening i received another visit from the garrulous houji mohammad who seemed to me rather less disagreeable than on the occasion of his first call after his departure a temporary excitement was caused by the discovery of a theft which had been committed in the garden a shirozzi militia who intended shortly to return home by way of sir john and neyreese had greatly impotuned me to hire his mules for the journey and this i had very foolishly half consented to do these mules were accordingly tied up in the garden near my house and it was their covering switch as the militia excitedly informed us had been removed by the thief the curious thing was that my horse's coverings which were of considerably more value had not been touched and i am inclined to believe that the militia himself was the thief he caused me trouble enough afterwards for when owing to the ophthalmia with which i was attacked i was obliged to rescind the bargain he lodged a complaint against the poor gardener whom he charged with the theft a farosh was sent by the vizier to arrest him whereupon the said gardener and his wife accompanied by the mermidon of the law came before me ringing their hands uttering loud lamentations and beseeching me to intercede in their favor so though my eyes ached most painfully i was obliged to write a long letter to the vizier in persian declaring the gardener to be to the best of my belief an honest and worthy fellow and requesting as a personal favor that he might be subjected to no further annoyance i furthermore took the precaution of promising a present of money to the farosh when he returned with the gardener in case the latter had suffered no ill treatment and thanks to these measures i succeeded in delivering him from the trouble in which the malice of the mulitia threatened to involve him but the effect of the exertion of my eyes in writing the letter was to cause a recredescent of the inflammation which had previously been on the decline so the mulitia had his revenge which i suppose was what he desired and intended monday 10th june 30th ramazon in the morning i visited several persons in the town including two of my zoroastrian friends shahriar and bahman the shop of the former was crowded with soldiers just home from jask and bandare abbaus so that conversation was impossible and i left almost immediately bahman on the other hand had only one visitor an old say yed named augus say yed hossain of jandak of whom i afterwards saw a great deal in fact rather more than i wished he conversed with me in a very affable manner chiefly of course on religious topics and amongst other things narrated to me the following curious legend about christ once upon a time said the say yed the lord jesus upon whom be peace entered into a certain city now the king of that city had forbidden any one of his subjects on pain of death to shelter him or supply him with food nevertheless seeing a young man of very sorrowful countenance he craved his hospitality which was at once accorded after the lord jesus had supped and rested he inquired of his host wherefore he was so sorrowful and eventually ascertained that he had fallen in love with the king's daughter then said the lord jesus be of good cheer thou shalt win her go to the king's palace tomorrow and demand her in marriage and your proposal will not be rejected so the young man marveling the while at his own audacity repaired on the morrow to the palace and demanded to see the king into whose presence he was presently ushered on hearing his proposal the king said my daughter shall be yours if you can give her a suitable dowry so the young man returned sadly to his home for he knew that such a dowry was far beyond his means and told the lord jesus what had passed then said the lord jesus if you will go to such and such a spot and search there you will find all that you seek he did so and found much gold and silver and many precious stones of great worth diamonds pearls rubies emeralds and the like beyond all that even the daughter of a king could expect or desire so the king bestowed on him his daughter's hand but after a time the lord jesus bade him leave all this and follow him and he knowing now that the great treasure compared to which all that he had given as the princess's dowry was as mere worthless dross was with christ alone abandoned all for his master's sake and indeed as this legend shows amongst all the prophets there was none who taught the path like the lord jesus and this remains amongst you christians in some measure even now though the law which he brought has little by little disappeared before islam so that no vestige of it is left in the evening i received a visit from some of the leading members of the hindu community 13 or 14 in number who begged me to let them know if at any time they could be of service to me in any way we owe you this said they for it is through the protection of your government that we are able to live and carry on our business here in safety and security later in the evening i partook of supper with several of the zoroastrians at the du lob of the elder gushtausp tuesday 11th june first chaval in the morning i had a visit from rostam the young zoroastrian he told me amongst other things of the persecutions to which his co-religionists were occasionally exposed formally said he it would often happen that they carried off one of our boys or girls and strove to compel them by threats and torments to become musulmans thus on one occasion they seized upon a zoroastrian boy 12 years of age carried him to the public bath and forced him to utter the mohammedan profession of faith and to submit to the operation of circumcision on another occasion the abducted two zoroastrian girls aged 15 and 20 respectively and by every means in their power strove to compel them to embrace the religion of islam one of them held out against their importunities for a long while until at last they turned her out almost naked into the snow and she was ultimately compelled to submit in the afternoon i again went into the town to pay some visits i entered it by the darvose gab to the east of the darvose and visited an old mosque situated near to that gate the mosque had as i was informed been willfully destroyed by a former governor of the city but it still showed traces of its ancient splendor after visiting the hindu's and some of my zoroastrian friends i proceeded to the house of the sheikh of com with whom as it had been arranged i was to pay my respects to the prince governor after drinking tea we accordingly repaired to the boghe no sir yeah which is situated near to the gate of the same name on the arrival of the prince no sir or dole we were conducted to an upper chamber where he received me in the kindliest and most friendly manner he talked to me chiefly about the condition of balochestown which as well as kermon was under his government and declared that a very notable improvement had taken place during the last few years i then presented my letter of recommendation from prince emodo dole of yazd and took occasion to mention the forlorn condition of mirza yusuf of tabriz and his hope that the shadow of the royal protection might not be withheld from him and that he might aspire to be numbered amongst the prince's servants in the evening i was again entertained at supper by one of my zoroastrian friends named shahriar all the other guests were of the good religion save myself now ebb hasan who still continued to accompany me everywhere and to consider himself as invited to every feast where unto i was bidden and a singer named faradol who had been summoned for our entertainment wednesday 12th june 2nd shaval towards evening i was visited by the baloch chief afzal khan and his son seyed hossain of jandag the sheikh of qom and his friend the young bobby gunner and molla yusuf the azali between the last and seyed hossain a violent disputer rose touching the merits and demerits of the first three caliphs so called omer ebb beck and othman whereby the other visitors were so wearied that they shortly departed and finally the seyed was left in undisputed possession of the field which he did not abandon till he had prayed the prayers of sundown merib and nightfall i share and explained to me at length the significance of their various component parts adding that if i would remain in kerman for one month he would put me in possession of all the essentials of islam now ebb hasan and faridun had supper with me in the char fasl or summer house on the roof of which i sat late in the latter and finally fell asleep with the song of a nightingale sweet voiced as esra feel ringing in my ears thursday 13th june 3rd shaval in the morning while walking in the bazaars i met afzal khan the beluch with his ragged and hungry-looking retainers he invited me to return with him to his lodging situated near the darvose rigor board and i having nothing else to do and not wishing to offend him accepted his invitation on our arrival there he insisted notwithstanding my earnest protests on sending out for sherbet's and sweetmeats wherewith to do me honor and he put me to further shame by continued apologies for the unfurnished condition of his abode and the humble character of his entertainment repeating again and again that he was only a poor beluch presently he got on the subject of his wrongs the english government so he declared had taken into their service one of his relatives who had forthwith made use of his new privileges to dispossess him of all his property and generally speaking to make his life a burden to him he had therefore come to kermon to seek employment from prince noserod dole if he will not help me concluded afzal khan i intend to go to mashhad and seek assistance from the english officials residing there and if they will do nothing for me i will place my services at the disposal of the russians shortly afterwards i rose to go alleging when afzal khan pressed me to stay that i had letters to write what letters he inquired suspiciously oh i answered carelessly letters of all sorts to yazd to shiras and this though true was not said altogether without mischievous intent to mashhad then afzal khan as i had anticipated became very perturbed and anxiously inquired what acquaintances i had at mashhad evidently supposing that i intended to inform the english representatives there of his intentions so that they might intercept him in case he should attempt to reach russian territory but indeed the poor fellow's services on which he evidently set a high value were not likely to be accounted as of much value by anyone else persian english or russian in the afternoon i visited molyusov the azali who though he talked about nothing else than religion confined himself much to my disappointment to the mohammedan dispensation he admitted my contention that by many paths men may attain to a knowledge of god and that salvation was not for the votaries of one religion only but maintained that though all roads led to the same goal some were safe short and sure and others secured us and perilous where for said he it behoves us to seek the shortest and safest way whereby we may most speedily and with least danger attain the desired haven we had a good deal of discussion too about the code of laws established by muhammad some of which as for example the punishment of theft by amputation of the hand i condemned as barbarous and irrational to this he replied by arguing that the lex talionis was intended merely to fix the extreme limit of punishment which could be inflicted on an offender and that forgiveness was as highly extolled by the mohammedan as by the christian religion this discussion lasted so long that on reaching the gate on my homeward way i found it shut and was obliged to creep through a hole in the city wall known to the cunning null ebb hassan end of section 36 recording by nicholas james bridgewater recorded in london england section 37 of a year amongst the persians by edward granville brown this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by nicholas james bridgewater a year amongst the persians by edward granville brown section 37 friday 14 th june fourth chaval this afternoon molla yusof the azali and one of his friends came to visit me and continue the discussion of yesterday they talked much about reason and the universal intelligence which according to the words lakal was the first creation or emanation of god and which at diverse times and in diverse manners has spoken to mankind through the mouth of the prophets reason said they is of four kinds akal bil kueh potential reason such as exists in an untaught child actual or effective reason such as belongs to those of cultivated intelligence habitual reason such as the angels in joy and aglemostak fee all sufficing reason this last is identical with the first intelligence agle aval or universal reason agle ko li which inspires the prophets and indeed becomes incarnate in them so that by it they have knowledge of all things that is of their essences not of the technical terms which in the eyes of men constitute an integral part of science whose so ever is endowed with this all sufficing reason and claims to be a prophet must be accepted as such but unless he chooses to advance this claim men are not obliged to accord him this rank next in rank to the prophet nabi is the saint valley whose essential characteristic is a love for god which makes him ready to lay down his life willingly and joyfully for his sake the love of the valley is such that by it he often becomes insensible to pain thus it is related of ali ibn abit olib the first that he was once wounded in the foot by an arrow attempts made to extract it only resulted in detaching the shaft from the barb which remained in the wound and caused so much pain that it seemed impossible for ali to endure any further operation then said one of his sons wait till the time for prayer comes round for when my father is engaged in prayer he becomes unconscious of all earthly things being wholly absorbed in communion with god and you can then extract the arrowhead without his so much as feeling it and this they did with complete success mullah yusuf told me another anecdote about ali which though it is well known to students of arabic history note c for instance al-fakhri edition al-vard page 54 endnote will bear repetition he had overthrown an infidel foe and kneeling on his prostrate body was about to dispatch him with his sword when the fallen unbeliever spat in his face there upon ali at once relinquished his hold on his adversary rose to his feet and sheathed his sword on being asked the reason of this he replied when he spat in my face i was filled with anger against him and i feared that should i kill him personal indignation would partially actuate me wherefore i let him go since i would not kill him otherwise than from a sincere and unmixed desire to serve god at this point our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of mirza yusuf of tabriz accompanied by one of the prince's servants who in turn were followed by feridun and no ebb hassan the two last and mirza yusuf remained to drink wine after the others had gone and mirza yusuf who was in a boastful humor began to say if you wish to know anything about the bobbies i am the man to tell you for i knew all their chief men at yazd and indeed professed myself a convert to their doctrines so as to gain their confidence they gave me some of their books to read including one note the book entitled calimate mac nuneif al temer hidden words of fatima is intended see for a description of this book my catalogue of 27 bobby manuscripts in the journal of the royal asiatic society for 1892 pages 671 to 5 end note wherein the reader was addressed in such words as oh child of earth oh child of my handmade and the like and in fact mirza yusuf had succeeded in finding out a good deal about the bobbies though his information was in some matters erroneous he declared for instance that korat ol ein was put to death by being cast from the summit of the citadel arg at tabriz but that the first time she was launched into the air she was so buoyed up by her clothes that she escaped all hurt note mirza yusuf had evidently mixed together a real fact the bob's martyrdom in the square of the citadel at tabriz with a story referring to the miraculous escape of a woman cast from its summit which story has been already referred to at page 58 supra end note my last visitor was seyed hassan of jan dag whose arrival caused the other guests to conceal the wine and at the earliest possible opportunity to depart he was in a captures frame of mind finding fault with the newspaper after of which the sheikh of com had sent me a recent issue for talking about the zealots sultans resignation estet faul instead of calling it in plain persian his dismissal asl and taking exception to sundry idioms and expressions in a letter from the prince governor of yazd which at his request i allowed him to read saturday 15th june chaval today while i was sitting in the shop of a merchant of my acquaintance howji abdolah of shiran's pahrome behrouz hurried up to inform me that his friend the magician howji mirza mohsen the controller of spirits and genies was at that moment in his shop and that if i would come with her he would present me to him i wish to go at once but howji abdolah and nao ebb hassan strove to detain me and while we were engaged in discussion the magician passed by the shop in person howji abdolah invited him to enter which he at first declined to do and made as though he would pass on but suddenly changing his mind he turned back entered the shop and seated himself amongst us this saheb said nao ebb hassan as soon as the customary greetings had been exchanged has heard of your skill in the occult sciences and desires to witness a specimen of the powers with which you are credited what would it profit him replied the magician and then turning to me is your motive in desiring to witness an exhibition of my powers a mere idol curiosity or is it that you seek to understand the science by means of which i can produce effects beyond the power or comprehension of your learned men sir i answered my object in making this request is in the first instance to obtain ocular evidence of the existence of powers generally denied by our men of learning but which i in the absence of any sufficient evidence presume neither to deny nor to affirm if having given me such evidence of their existence as i desire you will further condescend to acquaint me with some of the principles of your science i need not say that my gratitude will be increased but even to be convinced that such powers exist would be a great gain you have spoken well said the magician with approval and i am willing to prove to you the reality of that science concerning which you doubt but first of all let me tell you that all that i can accomplish i do by virtue of powers centered in myself not as men affirm by the instrumentality of the gin which indeed are mere creatures of the imagination and have no real existence has any one of you a comb halji abdulla at once produced a comb from the recesses of his pocket and handed it to halji mossen who threw it on the ground at a distance of about three feet from him to the left then he again turned to me and said are your men of learning acquainted with any force inherent in the human body whereby emotion may be communicated without touch to a distant object no i replied apart from the power of attraction latent in amber the magnet and some other substances we know of no such force certainly not in the human body very well said he then if i can make this comb come to me from the spot where it lies you will have to admit that i possess a power where of your learned men do not even know the existence then the distance is in this case small and the object light and easily movable is nothing and does not in the least degree weaken the force of the proof i could equally transport you from the garden where you live to any place which i choose now look then he moistened the tip of his finger with his tongue leaned over to the left and touched the comb once after which he resumed his former position beckon to the comb with the fingers of his left hand and called be all be all come come they're at to my surprise the comb spun rapidly round once or twice and then began to advance towards him in little leaps he continuing the while to beckon it onwards with the fingers of his left hand which he did not otherwise move so far one might have supposed that when he touched the comb with his moistened fingertip he had attached to it a fine hair or strand of silk by which while appearing but to beckon with his fingers he dexterously managed to draw the comb towards him but now as the comb approached within 18 inches or so of his body he extended his left hand beyond it continuing to call and beckon as before so that for the remainder of its course it was receding from the hand always with the same jerky spasmodic motion how jimosa now returned the comb to its owner and requested me for the loan of my watch i handed to him the clumsy china-backed watch which i had bought at tehron to replace the one which i had lost between erzerum and tabriz and he did with it as he had done with the comb save that when he began to call and beckon to it it made one rapid gyration and a short leap towards him and then stopped he picked it up looked closely at it and returned it to me saying there is something amiss with this watch of yours it seems to me that it is stolen property well i replied rather tartly i did not steal it at any rate i bought it in tehron for three tomans to replace my own watch which i lost in turkey how it came into the hands of him from whom i bought it i cannot of course say after this the magician became very friendly with me promising to visit me in my lodging and show me feats far more marvellous than what i had just witnessed you shall select any object you choose said he and bury it wherever you please in your garden so that none but yourself shall know where it is hidden i will then come and pronounce certain incantations over a brass cup which will then lead me direct to the place where the object is buried hearing that i was to visit the vasir of kermon he insisted on accompanying me the vasir was a courteous old man of very kindly countenance and gentle manners and i stayed conversing with him for more than half an hour a number of persons were present including the calantar or mayer whose servant had that morning received a severe application of the bastinado for having struck the cad codar or chief man of a village to which he had been sent to collect taxes or rents halji mirza mohsen who lacked nothing so little as assurance gave the vasir a sort of lecture on me as though i were a curious specimen which he concluded somewhat to my consternation by declaring that he intended to accompany me back to my own country and to enlighten the ignorance of its learned men as to the occult sciences of which he was a master on leaving the vasir's presence i accompanied the magician to his lodging and was introduced to his brother a fine-looking man of middle age dressed after the fashion of the baghdadis in job bare fares and white turban who spoke both arabic and ottoman turkish with fluency there were also present a number of children belonging as i gathered to halji mirza mohsen who was still mourning a domestic tragedy which had recently led to the death of his eldest son a lad of 16 ah you should have seen him he said such a handsome boy and so quick and clever none of my other children can compare with him he did not equate me with the details of his son's untimely death which according to nao eb hasan were as follows one of mirza mohsen's servants or disciples had a very beautiful wife with whom his son fell madly in love mirza mohsen on being informed by the boy of his passion promised to induce the girl's husband to free her by divorce in this he succeeded but instead of bestowing her hand on his son he married her himself the lad remonstrated vehemently with his father who only replied it was for my sake not yours that her former husband divorced her there upon the boy in an access of passionate disappointment shot himself through the head two stages out from kermon whether they were then journeying from sir jaun sunday 16th june 6th chavol today i was invited to take my midday meal nahar with the postmaster on my way thither i encountered near the darvoz emas jed one of my zoroastrian friends kei chosro who informed me with some excitement that two faranghis had just arrived in kermon come and talk to them he added for they are now in the street a little farther on i accordingly followed him though with no great alacrity for i enjoyed the feeling of being the only european in kermon and had no wish to spoil the unmixedly persian character of my environment by forming an acquaintance with two promiscuous europeans who might very likely i thought be mere adventurers and whose presence i was inclined to resent we soon found one of the newcomers a little gray bearded frenchman who was very reticent as to his object in visiting kermon and told me no more than his companion also french spoke english much better than himself which i could readily believe for his pronunciation was vile and his vocabulary most meagre and that they had come to torkistan bohorro and samarkand by way of mashad and thence through the deserts by way of tun and tabas to kermon he then went on to inquire with some eagerness whether there were in the town any cafes or wine shops wine shops in kermon and seemed much disconcerted when he heard that there were not i soon left him and proceeded to the postmaster's house there i found one mirza mohammad khan of the shahne matollahi order of dervishes sheikh ebraheem of sultan abad and another aperture of peas no chod beriz by profession whom as i should have to say a good deal about him before i bid farewell to kermon and as i do not wish to mention his real name i will call ustal akbar till lunchtime we sat in the tambal khan e idler's room or drawing room smoking kalyans and conversing on general topics including of course religion the postmaster told me that he had a book where in the truth of each dispensation down to the present one or bobby manifestation was proved by that which preceded it and this book he promised to lend me so soon as it was returned to him by a zoroastrian in whose hands it then was i asked him about the signs which should herald the manifestation of the end of time and he said that amongst them were the following that men should ride on iron horses that they should talk with one another from great distances that they should talk on their fingers and that men should wear women's clothes and women men's of which signs he added you will observe that the first clearly indicates the railroad the second the telephone and the third the telegraph so that nothing is wanting to apprise men of the advent of the most great theophany i inquired of him as i had previously inquired of the sheikh of qom as to the best and most authentic collections of Shiite traditions and he mentioned with a special commendation the osule kha fee the rose a kha fee and the man law yeh zori of faqih after lunch most of the guests indulged in an app but the parture of peas came and talked to me for a while in a very wild strain with which i subsequently became only too familiar if you would see adam he said i am adam if noa i am noa if abraham i am abraham if moses i am moses if christ low i am christ why do you not say at once i am god i retorted yes he replied there is not but he i tried to ascertain his views as to the future of the human soul but could exact from him no very satisfactory answer as one candle is lit from another said he so is life kindled from life if the second candle should say i am the first candle it speaks truly foreign essence it is indeed that first candle which has thrust forth its head from another garment presently we were interrupted by the arrival of visitors the officious and meddlesome haji mohammad khaun and the molla bar shee as soon as the customary forms of politeness had been gone through the latter turned to me saying so heb what is all this that we hear about you and haji mirzo mossen the magician is it true if you would kindly tell me what you have heard i replied i should be better able to answer your question well he answered haji mirzo mossen is telling everyone that you being skilled in the magic of the west had challenged him to a contest that you gave what proofs you could of your power and he of his but that he wrought marvels beyond your power and amongst other things wrote a few lines on a piece of paper burned it before your eyes and then drew it out from your pocket that there upon you had said that if he could summon the spirit of your father and cause it to converse with you in the french language you would embrace the religion of islam and that he had done what you demanded is this true and are you really going to become a mussel man really i replied i am not and were i disposed to do so haji mossen whom after what you have told me i must regard as a liar of quite exceptional attainments is not exactly the sort of person who would affect my conversion as for his story every word of it is false all that actually happened was this here i described our meeting in haji shiroziz shop furthermore my father by the grace of god is alive and in good health neither do i see why in any case he should address me in french since my language and his is english on returning to the garden i found afzal khan the balooch and his retainers mohler goshtausp and agosayed hossain of jandag awaiting my arrival the first somewhat overpowered by the sayed's theology probably left very soon but the sayed as usual stayed a long while and talked a great deal he first of all produced a small treatise on physiognomy el me pio fe of which he declared himself to be the author and proceeded to apply the principles therein laid down to me you have a very long arm and long fingers said he which shows that you are determined to wield authority and to exercise supremacy over your fellows also that you take care that whatever work you do shall be sound and thorough he next produced a collection of aphorisms which he had written out for me of which the only one i remember is eat the bread of no man and withhold thine own bread from none he then dictated to me four questions connected with religion which he wished me to copy out on four separate pieces of paper and send to the prince governor with a letter requesting him to submit them to four learned theologians whom he named and to require them to give an immediate answer without consulting together or taking time to reflect you will see the sayed remarked with an anticipatory chuckle that they will all give different answers and all wrong so that the prince will recognize the inadequacy of their learning i only remember one of these questions which ran as follows which of the four gospels now in the hands of the christians is the injil mentioned in the quran while we were engaged in this conversation the present proprietor of the garden mirzo javad son of auga sayed rahim the late vazir of kerman was announced he was a portly pleasant looking man of about 45 or 50 and was accompanied by his son a very beautiful boy of unusually fair complexion with dark blue eyes and long eyebrows and eyelashes rendered even more conspicuous than they would naturally have been by a liberal application of sorme and timony the sayed however did not allow their presence long to interrupt the unceasing stream of his eloquence and began to cataclyse me about the gospels asserting that the very fact of their being four proved that they were spurious and that the true gospel had disappeared from the earth he then inquired whether wine was lawful according to our law i replied that it was in as much as we knew that christ himself tasted wine on several occasions i take refuge with god cried the sayed it is a calamity this alone is sufficient to prove that your gospels are spurious for none of the prophets have ever drunk wine well i said i do not quite see your object in trying to disprove the genuineness of our gospels i imagine that you wish to convince me of the truth of islam but please to remember that if you could succeed in convincing me that the gospels now in our hands are forgeries you having no other and genuine gospel to put in their place you would be no nearer converting me to islam but rather further from it than at present you would either make me disbelieve in revealed religion altogether or you would drive me back on the pentatuke and make me a Jew there is something in that replied the sayed and i am now disposed to understand the matter in a different way the word charob originally means any kind of drink since the verb shari bear from which it is derived is employed in a perfectly general sense your priests have not understood this and have wrongly explained it as wine the very miracle which you would juice as evidence proves my point for you say that the attendance at the wedding feast were bidden to fill the jars with water it is quite clear that what christ wished to show was that water was the best and most exhilarating of drinks and that it was lawful not unlawful like wine the little boy seemed to take the liveliest interest in this discussion and kept whispering suggestions to the sayed for he like his father was imbued with the ideas of the sheikhs and was evidently not unwilling to make a display of his knowledge the sayed outstayed the other visitors and squatting down by the little stream proceeded to give me much advice a thing were of he was ever prodigal mingled with hints and warnings which i was for some time unable to comprehend don't cultivate in acquaintance of so-and-so mentioning one of my bobby friends too much he began and don't visit his house more than you can help the prince doesn't like him why doesn't he like him i inquired the prince had a very beautiful wife called pan bear cotton rejoined the sayed and one day in a fit of temper he said to her go to your father's house but without explicitly divorcing her your friend mirza blank lived next door to her father saw her was smitten with her charms and took her in marriage but when the prince who soon repented of his hasty conduct desired to take her back he found that she was the wife of another naturally he was greatly incensed with mirza blank naturally i said but he would hardly be incensed with me for visiting him you don't understand my point said the sayed the people of kermon are the greatest gossips and scandal mongers under the sun and the people of kermon will say that you go there to see pan bear who is the most beautiful woman in the city what nonsense i exclaimed why i never even heard of pan bear till this moment and when i go to see mirza blank i am naturally not introduced to his wives never mind you that said he take my advice and keep away from his house you can't be too careful here you don't know what the kermonies are like it was a most unfortunate thing that mirza javad found me here when he came to see you it was very nice for him i replied no doubt but why so specially fortunate because answered he seeing that i am your friend and associate and hearing our improving conversation he will think the better of you and will be the slower to credit any slanders against you which he may hear i am not aware said i that i have given any occasion for slander perhaps you do not know what people say about your servant hoji saffars see bear returned he what do you mean i demanded sharply i was not aware that he had a see bear the seyed laughed a little unpleasant incredulous laugh ah really said he that is very curious i should have supposed that he would have consulted you first anyhow there is no doubt about the matter for i drew up the contract myself and men say that the see bear though taken in his name was really intended for you here i must explain what a see bear is note for fuller details see carries droi musulman paris 1871 volume one pages 689 to 695 from which admirable compendium of shiaite law i have drawn several of the particulars given in the text end note a shiaite may according to his law contract a temporary marriage with a woman of his own or of the jewish christian or though some contest this may jean faith for a fixed period of time which may vary from a fraction of a day to a year or several years properly speaking it is the contract drawn up by the officiating more love in which both the period of the duration of the marriage and the amount of the dowry though this last may be no more than a handful of barley must be specified which is called the see bear but the term is commonly applied to the woman with whom such marriage is contracted this species of marriage if it can be dignified by this name though held in very proper detestation by sunite mohammedans is regarded by the shiites as perfectly legal and children resulting from it are held to be lawful offspring though prevalent to some extent throughout persia it flourishes with a special vigor in kermon where owing to the great poverty of the people the small dowry bestowed on the see bear induces many parents to seek for their daughters such engagement bad as this institution is at the best the more laws by one of those unrighteous legal quibbles of which they are so fond have succeeded in making it yet more abominable according to the law a see bear on completing the contracted period must before going to another husband wait for 45 days or two months to ascertain whether or no she is with child by the former husband this however only applies to cases where the marriage has been actually consummated so as many of these women are practically see bears by trade and do not wish to be subjected to this period of probation the more laws have devised the following means of evading the law when the contracted period of marriage has come to an end the man makes a fresh contract with the woman for another very short period this second purely nominal marriage being with the same man as the first is legal without any intervening period of probation and is not consummated so that on its expiration the woman is free to marry another man as soon as she pleases the say yes hints whether intended maliciously or prompted by a friendly feeling caused me a good deal of disquietude for absurd and false as the slander was I clearly saw that if it gained the credence of the vulgar it might become a source of actual peril Halji Safar who made no attempt to exculpate himself was of the same opinion and entreated me to leave Kermon as soon as possible so heb he concluded you do not know the malice and mischief of which these accursed kermonies are capable if we stay here much longer they will find some pretext for killing us both nonsense I said they are a quiet peaceable downtrodden folk these same kermonies though over fond of idle tattle besides you know what sheikh sadhi says to him whose account is clean what fear is there of the reckoning but in future I hope that you will be careful to avoid doing anything which may compromise my good name I have no wish to interfere either with your religion or with such indulgencies as are accorded to you by it but I have a right to expect that you will avoid anything which is liable to discredit my character and so the matter dropped the quotation from sat adi being more effective as quotations from sat adi or hor fares always are with a person than any quantity of argument I have had occasion to allude to the unrighteous quibbles whereby the mullahs while keeping the letter contravene the spirit of the law and I may hear at an instance which was related to me today by one of my bobby friends of the gross ignorance which sometimes characterizes their decisions a certain man in kermon wishing to expose this ignorance addressed the following question to a distinguished member of the local clergy I agreed with a labourer said he to dig in my garden a whole one yard square for eight prawns he has dug a hole half a yard square how much should I pay him half the sum you agreed upon of course said the mullah that is to say for prawns after thinking for a while however he corrected himself two prawns is the sum which you legally owe him he declared and this decision he committed to writing and sealed with his seal then the inquirer demonstrated to him that the labour required to excavate a hole measuring half a yard in each direction was only an eighth part of that needed for the excavation of one measuring a yard in each direction this conclusion the cleric resisted as long as he could but being at length compelled to admit its justice he got out of the difficulty by declaring that though mathematically the labourer could only claim one cron his legal Jew was two crons end of section 37 recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater recorded in London England