A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
Persian master, Mollah Hassan; another in the Resident’s family, who has trimmed pipes for two-thirds of a century, and who was a young man with mustachios and a sprouting beard, when Nadir Shah was at Shiraz. Another is an old fellow of the name of Ayecal, which, from the keenness of his love of sporting, has been familiarized by the English into Jackall.
The better sort of women are scarcely ever seen, and when they are, their faces are so completely covered that no feature can be distinguished. The poorer women, indeed, are not so confined, for they go in troops to draw water for the place. I have seen the elder ones sitting and chatting at the well, and spinning the coarse cotton of the country, while the young girls filled the skin which contains the water, and which they all carry on their backs into the town. They do not wear shoes; their dress consists of a very ample shirt, a pair of loose trowsers, and the veil which goes over all. Their appearance is most doleful; though I have still noticed a pretty face through all the filth of their attire. The colour of their clothes is originally brown, but when they become too dirty to be worn under that hue, they are sent to the dyer, who is supposed to clean them by superinducing a dark-blue or black tint. In almost every situation they might be considered as the attendants on a burial; but in a real case of death there are professional mourners, who are hired to see proper respect paid to the deceased, by keeping up the cries of etiquette to his memory.
Among the superstitions in Persia, that which depends on the crowing of a cock, is not the least remarkable. If the cock crows at a proper hour, they esteem it a good omen; if at an improper season, they kill him. I am told that the favourable hours are at nine, both in the morning and in the evening, at noon and at midnight.
But the lion, in the popular belief of Persia, has a discernment much more important to the interests of mankind. A fellow told me with the gravest face, that a lion of their own country would never hurt a Sheyah, (the sect of the Mahomedan religion which follows Ali, and which is established in Persia,) but would always devour a Sunni, (who recognises before Ali the three first caliphs.) On meeting a lion, you have only therefore to say, “Ya Ali,” and the beast will walk by you with great respect; but should you either from zeal or the forgetfulness of terror, exclaim “Ya Omar! Oh Omar!” he will spring upon you instantly.
III. Animals of the Dashtistan. About twenty-five years ago, in the time of Sheik Nasr, who possessed both Bushire and the island of Bahrein, and who consequently was enabled to improve the native breed of Persia, by bringing over the Nedj stallion, the Dashtistan became celebrated for a horse of strength and bottom. But the original breed of Persia, that which is now restored, is a tall, lank, ill-formed, and generally vicious animal; useful indeed for hard work, but unpleasant to ride compared with the elegant action and docility of the Arab. There is another race of the Turcoman breed, (such as are seen at Smyrna, and through all Asia Minor), a short, thick, round-necked, and strong-leg’d horse, short quartered, and inclined behind. There is also a fine breed produced by the Turcoman mare and the Nedj stallion. At two different times, large lots of horses were offered to us for sale: the first, by the people of the Shiraz officer, who asked immense prices, and when refused, departed in apparent ill-humour, but generally returned and took the reduced sum which was offered. In this way also we purchased a lot of forty horses, principally of the Turcoman breed, which had been destined for the Indian market, and for which an average price of three hundred and twenty piastres for each horse had been asked at Bushire, but which at the end of the month were sold to us for two hundred and fifty. The distinct and characteristic value of the horses of the country, was exemplified in a present of two, which the Envoy received from the Sheik of Bushire. One was a beautiful Arab colt, of the sweetest temper I ever knew in a horse, frisking about like a lamb, and yet so docile, that though now for the first time mounted, he seemed to have been long used to the bit, a sure proof in the estimation of the country of the excellence of his breed. The other was a Persian colt of the most stubborn and vicious nature; to the astonishment and admiration however of the Persians, the Envoy’s Yorkshire groom by mere dint of whip and spur, subdued the creature and rendered him fit to ride: a triumph which established the groom’s reputation readily, among a people peculiarly alive to the superiority of their own horsemanship. A horse more than ordinarily vicious was tamed in a singular manner by the people of the country. He was turned out loose (muzzled indeed in his mouth, where his ferociousness was most formidable) to await in an enclosure the attack of two horses, whose mouths and legs at full liberty were immediately directed against him. The success was as singular as the experiment; and the violence of the discipline which he endured, subdued the nature of the beast, and rendered him the quietest of his kind. The horses are fastened in the stables by their fore legs, and pinioned by a rope from the hind leg to stakes at about six feet distant behind, so that although the animals are well inclined to quarrel, and are only four or five feet asunder, they can scarcely in this position succeed in hurting each other: frequently however they do get loose, and then most furious battles ensue. I have often admired the courage and dexterity with which the Persian Jelowdars or grooms throw themselves into the thickest engagement of angry horses; and, in defiance of the kicks and bites around them, contrive to separate them.
The Resident’s stud consists of about twenty horses, mules, and asses; eight of the horses belong to the East India Company, and are principally employed in carrying choppers or couriers to Shiraz. These are obliged however to be renewed very frequently, because one such journey generally destroys the animal that performs it; so difficult are the passes of the mountains, and so unmerciful are the riders.
They have in Persia a very large and ferocious dog, called the kofla dog, from his being the watchful and faithful companion of the kofla or caravan. Each muleteer has his dog, and so correct is the animal’s knowledge of the mules that belong to his master, that he will discover those that have strayed, and will bring them back to their associates; and on the other hand, when at night the whole caravan stops, and the mules are parcelled in square lots, the guardian dog will permit no strange mule to join the party under his charge, or to encroach upon their ground. His strength and his ferocity are equal to his intelligence and watchfulness.
We chased one day a large white fox. They prey about the open country round Bushire in great numbers, for the natives do not destroy them with all the zeal of Englishmen. The wild animals of the Dashtistan are the wolf, the hyæna, the fox, the porcupine, the mangousti, the antelope, the wild boar, the jerboa, and sometimes the wild goat. The mountains of the Dashtistan have also the lion, and he has been known to descend into the plain. On the 12th December, Captain Davis, of the Sapphire, shot two cormorants out of a flock that were squatted on a tree. Partridges also have been seen to settle in the same situation. The hawks, which are used in hunting, are the cherk, the balban, and the shahein.
We set off on the 29th of November, before sun-rise, to hunt with hawks. The freshness, or rather the coldness of the morning, was quite revivifying. We were accompanied by an old and keen sportsman, who had long been renowned in the plains of Bushire for his expertness in training a hawk, and his perseverance in hunting the hoobara or bustard. The old Reis, the name by which he was known, was one of the most picturesque figures on horseback that I ever saw. He was rather tall, with a neck very long, and a beard very grey. His body, either through age or the long use of a favourite position on horseback, inclined forwards till it made an angle of 45° with his thighs, which run nearly parallel to the horse’s back; and his beard projected so much from his lank neck, that it completed the amusement of the profile. On his right wrist, which was covered by large gloves, his hawk was perched. The bird is always kept hood-winked, till the game be near. On our way we were joined by Hassan Khan, the Governor of Dasti, who also carried a hawk, and who was attended by about fifteen men with spears, the kaleoons, or water pipes, &c. We proceeded to Halila, where we commenced our hunt. A hoobara started almost under the foot of my horse; as the bird flew, a hawk was unhooded that he might mark the direction, and was loosed only when it settled. But the sport was unsuccessful in two or three attempts; in fact, when the hawk has had one flight, and has missed his prey, he should be fed with the blood of a pigeon, and then hood-winked, and not permitted to fly again in that day’s sport. As soon as the hawk has taken his flight, the sportsmen remain quiet