A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
The whole was accompanied by a letter from Nasr Oalah Khan, the Minister at Shiraz, replete with compliment and inquiries about health, and entrusted to the care of Aga Mahomed Ali, one of the Prince’s servants, who received for himself from the Envoy a present of five hundred piastres. The great men profit by these opportunities of enriching by such returns any servant to whom in their own persons they may owe an obligation, and to whom they thus, cheaply to themselves, repay it. But the charge of a present is frequently made the matter of a bargain among the adherents of the donor, and perhaps is sometimes purchased directly from the great man himself.
On the 13th of Nov. we were informed, that a Mehmandar had been appointed by the court to escort the Envoy to Teheran. The title of Mehmandar has been familiarized to an English reader by His Majesty’s appointment of Sir Gore Ouseley to fill the station during the residence in England of Mirza Abul Hassan, late Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Persia to the Court of London. But the duties which, in England, the most active Mehmandar could comprize within his office are comparatively very limited to those which are indispensably attached to a similar station in Persia. The Mehmandar is the Superintendant and Purveyor assigned to the dignity and ease of foreign Embassadors; the relative facility, therefore, with which he can discharge these functions must vary of course with the state of society in different countries. In England money procures every accommodation; but money alone can procure it now: purveyance, however, in its feudal sense, unfortunately for the people, still exists in its full force in Persia; and the Mehmandar, under the commission of his Sovereign, is entitled to demand from the provinces through which he passes every article in every quantity which he may deem expedient for his mission. And as there is no public accommodation on the road where, at every hour as in England, these supplies may be procured, they are extorted from the private stores of the villagers. Besides every requisite of provision and conveyance, the firman of the Mehmandar sometimes includes even specie among the articles thus necessary in the passage. It is not, therefore, wonderful, that the officer entrusted with this power, though generally a man of high rank, is generally also understood to purchase the nomination at very large prices. The proportion of the purchase is the proportion of course of the demands on the country: the villager groans under the oppression, but in vain shrinks from it; every argument of his poverty is answered, if by nothing else, at least by the bastinado.
The information of the appointment was premature: Mahomed Hassan Khan, an officer of rank, had indeed been dispatched from Shiraz, but he was entrusted with a more private commission to the Envoy. On the 19th his immediate approach to Bushire was announced. As, independently of the confidence which by this mission the Government appeared to repose in him, he possessed high personal rank, (as one of the Chiefs of the Karaguzlou tribe, one of the most numerous, warlike, and respectable of all under the jurisdiction of Persia,) the first Minister at Shiraz wrote to the Envoy to desire that He would send the person next in rank to himself to receive him. The Envoy accordingly ordered me to proceed on the occasion. I went, accompanied by Mr. Bruce and Dr. Jukes, and escorted by Cornet Willock with ten troopers, and five Chattars. The Chattars are those running footmen who, in fantastical dresses, generally surround the horse of a great man; but the name is applied not only to these attendants of shew, but to those messengers also who perform their journies on foot, and perform them with a dispatch almost incredible. When we had proceeded about a mile we met the stranger. He was thinly attended, having travelled in haste. When we approached, our little squadron drew up in a line as he passed; and we advanced, and made our respective compliments. We then all turned back together, and brought him into the presence of the Envoy, who received him sitting on one corner of the sopha, but rose just as he approached it. We were all dressed with more or less ornament in honour of our guest; and during his visit we kept on our hats. The Nasakchee Bashee had already fallen into his train, when we first met him; and during the short stay which he now made, the Vice-governor of Bushire, Aga Mahomed Jaffer, came to pay his respects also. He advanced immediately to the Khan, seized his hand, which he kissed, whilst the Khan applied his beard and mouth to the other’s face, and kissed his cheek. The manners of our guest himself were pleasant and modest, and spoke the simplicity of a man bred in camps. When the Envoy had inquired after his health, the health of the Prince, of the minister, and successively of other great men, the stranger, after the interchange of a few compliments, departed to take up his abode with the Vice-governor. As he entered Bushire, the guns at the gate were fired, but one of them could not bear the shock, and flew out of the carriage. For fear therefore of the gates and tower, they did not venture to discharge the sixty-eight pounder, which was mounted in the town; an apprehension not purely imaginary.
The party appeared particularly gloomy: their clothes were of a dark hue, and their caps and their beards were of the deepest black. Every one had a musket, a sword, a brace of pistols, and a great variety of little conveniences, as powder-flasks, cartouche-boxes, hammers, drivers, &c. so that the aggregate equipment displayed every man a figure made up for fighting. The Khan was dressed exactly like his followers, and was alone distinguished by carrying fewer arms. He had, indeed, one Yeduk or led horse before him. The trappings of their horses are very simple, compared to those of the Turks. The head-stall of the bridle has little bits of gold and silver, or brass fixed to it, without the tassels, chains, half-moons, or beads of a Turkish bridle. Nor have they the splendid breast-plate, or the bright and massy stirrup of the Turkish cavalry. Their saddle itself is much more scanty in the seat, nor is it so much elevated behind. The only finery of a Persian saddle is a raised pummel either gilt or silvered; and a saddle-cloth, or rather an elegant kind of carpetting, trimmed with a deep fringe.
On the next day, the Envoy directed me to return, in his name, the visit of Mahomed Hassan Khan. He was lodged in the house which then belonged to the Vice-governor, but which had been the property of the late Hajee Khelil Khan, (the Embassador of Persia, who was unfortunately killed at Bombay.) The room into which we were introduced was very pleasant, and by far more agreeable than any thing that I had expected at Bushire. Two pillars, neatly inlaid with looking-glasses, supported it on one side, and thus separated it from a small court, which was crowded with servants. An orange tree stood in the centre of the court. The walls of the room were of a beautiful white stucco, resembling plaster of Paris; and large curtains were suspended around them, to screen in every position the company from the sun. The Khan was seated in a corner, and having taken off our shoes at the door, we paid our respects severally, and then settled ourselves according to our rank. When we were arranged, he went about separately to each, and with an inclination of his head, told us we were welcome, (“Khosh Amedeed.”) The Vice-governor next appeared, and sat respectfully at a little distance. He was followed by the Governor of the small neighbouring district of Dasti, a rough looking man, who exchanged a kiss with the Khan. We had kaleoons, (the water pipe), then sweet sherbet, then again the kaleoons. Few words passed, and we did little except look at each other. Two or three Arabs came in, and were welcomed by the Khan with the “khosh amedeed” as they seated themselves at the further end of the room. The measurement of their distances in a visit seems a study of most general application in Persia;