LITTLE MEMORIES OF PERSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3149, 22 July 1914, Page 76

LITTLE MEMORIES OF PERSIA.

(By G. W. Thomson, in Chambers’s Journal.)

On my way to the East in 1888 I spent an afternoon at Venice with Sir Austen Layard, the excavator of Nineveh, who gave me a melancholy account rf Persian misrule. He mentioned that while ho was residing in the province of Rhuzistan, the Persian Government, when pressed for money, became so cruel f that he had known annual taxes collected three times in the course of one vear, and when the inhabitants were unable to nay, he had seen men and women stripped naked in the streets and severely beaten. I found Persia an extraordinary country. From any prominent point as far as the eye could reach the greater part of the land appeared a wild waste, with here and there little oases of cultivation. There were no trees except in the northern provinces and round a few towns and villages. Ruined buildings, the remains of former greatness, were to be found thickly scattered in every direction. The most wonderful sight I saw in Persia was the Shah’s museum. The precious stones—diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires—the pearls, and the collections of ancient armour, gold dishes, and exquisite enamels are probably unrivalled. These things proved a dream of beauty and colour never to be forgotten. One large case contained different orders, all blazing with diamonds, bestowed by foreign potentates on the Shah. There was °a, golden globe, the various countries — except Persia, which was in diamonds—outlined in rubies, the sea represented by emeralds. Then there was the famous Peacock Throne, which had been brought from India, encrusted with mweis. If titles can make a man great, the Shah Nasr-ed-Din had no excuse for not being in the front rank. He was called the Shah-in-Shah (King of Kings), the Zil Allah (Shadow of God), the Dibich Alem (Centre of the Universe), the Sublime Sovereign whose Splendour is that of the

Firmament, the Leader of Armies as numerous as the - Stars, the Footpath, of Heaven, the Source of Sanctity, the Well of Science, and by many other equally grandiloquent appellations. The water in which he washed was considered sacred, and was eagerly sought for as a cure for all complaints. The Shah was proud of his army, without, so far as I could see, very much reason. The ranks were full of beardless boys and tottering, white-headed old men. I have seen a regiment marching through Teheran, not one man keeping step with his neighbour. Once I noticed a ouarrel between an officer and a common soldier while on the march. The latter stepped out of the ranks and gave his superior a good beating. The regiment was in rags; indeed, it was rare to find a soldier in Persia who was owner of a complete uniform. The command of regiments was sometimes conferred on children. I remember one little boy of 10 years of age who was a field-marshal. But, young or old, on a battlefield a Persian officer could always be depended on to run away. This peculiarity was not confined to the officers. On one occasion a Hamadan regiment took to their heels at the sound of their own signal-gun I I had the honour of two interviews with his Majesty. He struck me as being like Edmund Yates the novelist, who in those days was a well-known figure in London. The Shah was of middle and had a dark complexion, thick moustache, and black eyes and hair. On one occasion he was wearing spectacles with horn rims. He spoke rapidly, and generally rather impatiently. On both occasions he was simply dressed. He wore an ordinary high hat of Astrakhan lambskin without any ornament, close-fitting grey trousers, and a coat of sombre silk brocade. His chief characteristics were a childish passion for novelty, great enjoyment of jokes, and fondness for animals. He was presented with a collapsible rubber boat, and sent half-a-dozen of his highest officers for a row on the lake in the royal gardens. Meanwhile he had secretly ordered the valve to be opened, and the boat collapsed in the middle of. the lake, leaving the courtiers floundering in the water, while his Majesty stood grinning on the shore. He was particularly fond of cats. One of his favourites fell asleep on the coattails of a nobleman, who cut off his skirt -rather than disturb the slumbers of the cat. Another of these pets had—not through the - efforts of Mr Lloyd George—an old-age pension of £3OO a year settled on it. While I was in Teheran the Shah built a palace for one of his cats; that animal used to be driven about in a golden coach, attended by footmen in imposing uniforms. One day, tired of so much grandeur, it jumped from its carriage and disappeared. The Shah married one of his wives for the simple reason that she had been kind to his favourite cat. He didn’t confine his affection to one class of animal. A lioness in the royal menagerie gave birth to cubs. The Shah was so anxious about the health of the mother that he had telegraph wires connected with a temporary office opposite the cage of the lioness, so as to obtain as quickly as possible the latest bulletin. He discharged an unsympathetic clerk who had telegraphed, “The beast is doing well,” on the ground, that the real beast was not the lioness, but the man who 7 could call the noble creature by such an ignominious name. Knowing that she was fond of animals, the Shah offered two cubs to my wife. lam thankful she declined the gift. In a small house in London young lions would be inconvenient pets! One had to he very careful in speaking to _ his Majesty. “May I be vour sacrifice-, Asylum of the Universe !” was the fashion in which he was addressed even by subjects of the highest rank. To an ordinary mail the common salutation was, “May your nose be fat!” The Shah had 60 wives. Their indoor costume consisted of a chemise of tinselled silk gauze or goldembroidered muslin under a short jacket; the skirts were also short, and very much puffed out. The fact is that the Shah, during one of his visits to Europe, was so delicrhtod with the dress of the balletdancers at the Opera in ParH that he decreed that their somewhat light and breezy attire was to bo the indoor dress of the ladies of the Court. As most of his wives were old and fat, the effect of this costume was not altogether pleasing.