Part 4 (1/2)

It was here, in the Caravansary Emir, that I met with a rather curious adventure, which I must relate One afternoon, whilst the heat was rather unbearably strong, I sat at the door of edmy linen of certain animals which intrude upon the poor traveller in the East in spite of all his efforts after cleanliness Two Englishnized by their Indian hats, and ere strolling in the caravansary, stopped suddenly beforefor a while er one said to the older, ”Look at the hunting zeal of this fellow!” I raised lish, ”Will you join, sir?” Amazed, nay bewildered, one of thelish, and what countryman are you?” From reasons formerly explained, I abstained fro all the exertions, I did not utter another English word, nay, withdrew altogether to the interior ofto Europe I happened to be at an evening party in the house of an English noblenized in one of the guests present my interlocutor of Tebriz, but unsure of my discovery I did not address him After dinner, however, the lady of the house askedcourage, I asked her to introduce me to the man in whom I supposed a former acquaintance ”Oh, that is Lord R----,” said the lady ”Well, I don't know his name, but I have seen him,” was my answer Lord R---- received me politely, but denied the fact of a for, ”My lord, you have been to Tebriz, and you do not relish?” The extraordinary surprise of Lord R---- was indescribable; he recognized hly amused company

The days I spent in Tebriz passed quickly and pleasantly owing toexclusively confined to Asiatics While I was there, an interesting festival took place, to which I succeeded in obtaining admission The solemn investiture of the recently noave eant and pomp of the Orient in all its splendour Muzaffar-ed-din Mirza, the son of the king, now nine years old, but who, according to the custom of the country, had been elected, in his childhood, successor to the throne, was to be publicly invested with the Khalat, the royal parade robe The whole toas on the alert The festival lasted several days, and when, on its first day, I entered through the gate of the Ala Konak (the royal residence), which was surrounded by a dense crowd of people, into the interior court, e contrast of squalor and splendour, of poate, were seated the grandees of the land, and ast them the prince with the principal officers of his household Every face wore a sole of their nified e of their heads, everything indicated that they ell versed in the art of exhibiting a public pageant

Around the interior of the court were ranged two lines of _serbasses_ (soldiers), sad-looking fellows, in European unifor as uncon clothes The s about them were their cravats, soain anywhere between those two points

One of the sides of the garden was entirely occupied by loaves of sugar and various Persian cakes and sweete wooden platters, and without which any festive occasion in Persia would be considered incomplete

In the centre rose the throne, upon which the young boy-prince, looking feeble and pale, took his seat, surrounded by his splendid retinue When he was seated, the loud boo of cannon was heard, the military band struck up a martial march, and i the robe of honour, which he placed upon the shoulders of the young prince in token of his new dignity The envoy then produced the insignia of the diamond order of shi+r-u-Khurshi+d, fastened it upon the breast of the princely heir apparent, concluding the cere a costly carpet which had concealed the portrait of the king, painted in oil upon canvas At thisprince rushed forward and imprinted a kiss upon the portrait, which was then iain with the carpet Upon the prince returning to his seat fro roar of cannon and the swelling sounds of h priest ca upon the prince, the royal order was loudly proclai a seat opposite to the prince, recited to his glorification a _Kascide_ (glorifying song) The proceedings of the young poet were quite new to me, and struck me even more than the bombastic tenor of his poetical effusion He compared the prince to a tender rose, to the brilliant sun, and finally to a precious pearl fished out of the sea of the royal family, and destined to become now the most precious ornament in the crown of Iran Then he called hile blow of his sword destroys whole arlance the mountains tremble, and the flame of whose eyes reat lords, ere in the background, and the sweetmeats were reuests present, theto each of theeant was over

These festivities were followed by the reception of Cerutti, the Italian a of twenty-five h Tebriz, on his way to Teheran Their arrival caused a great ferovernment and the European colony The forent Serdar-Aziz-Khan, at their head, were delighted to have an opportunity afforded thee in their passionate fondness for display, and the latter were gratified to set their eyes upon the representatives of the new Italian kingdom I joined the latter in order to be present at the reception In the earlyof a sultry day in June we rode out of the town, a distance of about two hours, totheir dresses They wished to appear before the Persians in full parade, and it took considerable time for twenty-five Europeans, diplomatists, military men, merchants, andtheir best attire It was not far froentlehly ornamental uniforms and costunia of the various orders, in pluht was to us Europeans a very attractive one, but wishi+ng to hear the opinion of the natives, I leftthe whole procession I heard nothing but ironical res considered by us splendid, as ridiculous According to their notions, our short coats, fitting the body, are theplain, tightfitting, and unassunificant Their idea of the beautiful in dress consists in what is a in rich folds and showy

Their prudery andwhich sharply defines the limbs and outlines of the human body, whilst Europeans affect that style, and thereby rouse the displeasure of the Asiatics They also criticise the stiff carriage of the Europeans on horseback, and in this they are not far fro chest looks like a caricature besides one who sits with easy grace, yet proudly, on his steed

The Embassy, on the day of their arrival, orked very hard indeed

For two hours they were dragged through the town, in every possible direction, in order to gratify the curiosity of the populace When they got at last to the place assigned to the allowed to rest For three whole days they were besieged by a host of polite visitors, each of the back to their master's house, in return, the ampler and more valuable presents which they expected to receive fro fro with caravans and troops of travellers I, therefore, deemed the roads sufficiently safe, and resolved to continue alone my journey to the capital of the country, accompanied only by a _tcharvador_, a man who lets horses and animals of burden for hire I hired fro to the e on it, and said good-bye to Tebriz

VIII

IN ZENDJAN

Two days after leaving Tebriz, I arrived at a village called _Turke is celebrated for being the place where the Treaty of Peace, which put an end to the Perso-Russian war of 1826-28, was concluded Nothing particular happened on ht inter my noon's rest at a solitary caravansary I had been asked before by shi+-ites, here and there, in ive them some kind of _nuskha_ (talisman) A shi+-ite Seid caranted his request by writing one or two passages of the Koran on a slip of paper He was not satisfied with this, but begged ofkind my friends in Tebriz had presented ly, but thou art used to the mild tobacco of Kurdistan, and I a, I was obliged to let hihted it, but hardly had he taken a few puffs at it when he was, seized by a violent attack of dizziness, beca The Seid rushed, screa, into the yard and shouted: ”Help, help, shi+-ites; the Sunnite has poisoned me” I ran after him as fast as I could, and when I overtook hiroup of Persians Ifthe bystanders of my innocence, I should have fared badly

While yet at a distance of several hours fro by his appearance, see to the learned class He addressed h I had never set my eyes on him before He was very talkative, like s in the course of half an hour He introduced hi frohbourhood Very soon he was overtaken by his servant leading a ht of its load The poor beast was carrying the fees collected in kind by the physician, such as dried fruit, corn and so forth This loquacious disciple of aesculap dwelt, during the whole tiave vent to his unbounded astonishis (Europeans) who dared to appear as physicians in the holy dilated upon the efficiency of his amulets and talismans, and how he had driven devils out of his patients, made the dumb speak, the blind see and the deaf hear When we reached the town my head fairly ached with theto the caravansary I observed a great s hoisted upon tall poles We were in the first ten days of thewhich period the Isla But the shi+-ites begin the doleful feast one , fasts, and e the _Tazies_ The black flags marked the places where the performances were to take place

At that tier was everywhere spoken of, who had won great distinction in the part of _Ali Ekber_, and as to perfor with impatience to witness a Tazie, and I had hardly arrived at the caravansary when I determined to start at once I joined the populace, and was carried by the streaovernor

There in the centre stood an elevated platforh, around which, upon poles of considerable height, were suspended tiger and panther skins, black flags, shi+elds of steel and skin, and bare swords, interspersed with here and there a lae The woht side of the court, and the overnor himself (who had the Tazie performed) and his family, surrounded by the prominent men of the town, looked at the spectacle fro, every face wore an expression of indescribable sadness and dejection

The Tazie represents the tragic history of Hussein, of which a short outline will be here in place After the death of Mohanated no one as his successor, the faithful divided into two caht Abubekr, the oldest companion and follower of the Prophet, most worthy of the succession, whilst the uided by the strength of those words uttered by Mohammed: ”Even as I am lord, so is Ali lord, too” But Ali's party was vanquished After Abubekr came Osman, and the latter was succeeded by Omar Ali's partisans, however, did not despair of their cause; they made several attempts to seat him on the throne, and after the death of On was of short duration; his enemies, at whose head the Prophet'sherself stood, had his and tragic end only increased the number of his followers; he was mourned as a martyr and almost deified He had nine wives, but of these mention is hter, who bore Ali two sons, Hassan and Hussein The right of succession was clai from Mecca to the town of Kuffa, at the invitation of its inhabitants, ere his partisans He was accompanied by those of his folloho expatriated theris, in the middle of the desert, they were suddenly attacked by hostile bands, sent against them by Yezid, and every one of them cruelly massacred This catastrophe is commes and theatrical exhibitions, called _Tazies_

Just before the Tazie coence in opiu dervish stepped upon the platfor: ”Ya Muminin!” (Oh! you true believers), and in an instant the ut prayer, lauding the perfections and brave deeds of the shi+-ite great, and then enue the sins and wickedness of the Sunnites, and in uished Sunniteon ht we not to call down damnation upon their heads? I tell you, a curse upon the three dogs, the three usurpers, Abubekr, O for the effect of his words on the assembled multitude The whole multitude expressed their approval of his curses and anathemas by loud cries of ”Bishbad, bishbad!” (More even than that,Ayesha, the Prophet's wife, Moavie, Yezid and all the distinguished foes to shi+-itis at the name of each, and the audience roared out every ti the Shah, the present Ule, at the end of which he descended froather in a substantial reward for the zeal he had shown This was the prologue Shortly afterwards several persons clad in a elegies now in solos, now in chorus, in order to move the hearts of the hearers and prepare theirplay Ie; he is on his way to Kuffa, in the very heart of the desert, and accompanied by his family and a small band of faithful followers They are all horribly suffering froe the woes of his fa thirst, by words of co in the background, the throne of Yezid, Hussein's enemy, seated upon which is Yezid herself, in all the pride of poainst Hussein and his friends aest child of Hussein, is so ht in which his parents and sisters and brothers are, that he deterh he well knows that the ene everywhere His parents and their friends dissuade hie, their voices attuned to the emotions of love and anxiety for his safety There was so tones of the weeping mother and in the prayers of the father, and the sobs of Hussein and his little band could hardly be heard on account of the sy round about The women, in particular, wept so bitterly that I could catch, at rare intervals, only here and there a word of the beautiful and deeply affecting dialogue

But Ali Ekber remains firm in his resolve; his mother swoons away but soon recovers; she wishes to see her son becoirds on his sword, and he e a couple of times He is immediately pursued by one of Yezid's band, a powerful warrior, who, in pursuit, is not sparing of the gle grows heated, the scene interesting, and the interest more and more intense The brave youth is at last overtaken, blow falls after blow, and Ali Ekber's blood is flowing from numerous wounds Groans and shrieks of despair fro the event of the fight with bated breath, perceive the awful finale He sinks to the ground and is carried, half dead, to the front of the stage At this moment, when father, s precipitate the into the and shrieks of spectators rise to the highest pitch Women beat their breasts, and everybody, as a mark of sorrow, strews dust and chopped straw, instead of ashes, upon his head

The spectators are indeed so carried aith the play, that I doubt if there be anywhere in Europe a tragedian capable of producing a si son, Hussein's wrath knows no bounds, and vowing vengeance, he, too, vaults into the saddle, but is hotly pressed by Shaht forward, and at the sight of it thela They place hi shawls At last a general massacre ensues, and every member of Hussein's family is killed There they all lie stark dead, stretched out on the floor, and the pious spectators are so filled with holy horror that they dare not lift their eyes to look at the appalling spectacle on the stage--the perforedy

The other piece which followed represented a biblical scene--Abraha about to sacrifice his son Isaac This, too, was acted with considerable fidelity After the old patriarch has patiently listened to God's cos him to his breast and finally ties him and lays hie of his sword upon the child's bare throat, and just as he is about to cut the boy's throat, an angel of the Lord appears with two lambs Isaac starts up from the altar and Abraham kills, in his place, the two lambs, which afford afterwards a succulent supper to the corave demeanour and cleverness of the child-perforst the to a couple of hundred lines, perfectly well by heart Their estures were quite unexceptionable, too The parts are always sung by the perfor, especially the mournful parts, with such true expression and skill that the most delicate ear and the severest artistic sensibility would be gratified in hearing them

Such and sietting up, of course, vary veryto the person at whose expense it takes place The finest Tazies I saere those performed at the court of Teheran, to which, however, usually, no strangers, except the uest I had an opportunity to go and see it with the not easily to be forgotten All the actors rapped in shawls of the enuine diamonds and precious stones, and the handles of their swords were either gilded orand the scenery were perfect; one could aline Yezid, in person, to be before one's eyes There is one thing, however, which detracts a great deal from the illusion of the representation; the feidly forbids women to appear in public places