PERSIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6120, 5 March 1898, Page 4

PERSIA.

The bastinado (flogging on the soles of the feet) and a fine are the sovereign remedies for all degrees of guilt in Persia, varied occas.onally with the amputation of a hand, or the head. Girl babies are a great disappointment to Persian mothers ; they count as nothing The grand ambition of every married woman is to have several sons, as through them she is secured consideration and a provision in advanced years. Matrimonial engagements in Persia are divided into two classes. The real marriage, which is considered the most respectable, is confined to four wives. In the other the number of "partners" of the husband's joys and sorrows is unlimited. Life in a Persian harem is not always a bed of roses for the inmates. When a wife loses her personal attractions she often sinks down till she is no better than a household drudge, and at the best is seldom free from contentions with her more fortunate rivals. Although the vineyards of Persia yield the choicest grapes the wiue produced is of inferior quality. The fruit is collected at random, sound and otherwise, and thrown into a heap, stalks and all, and the juice is, or Avas recently, extracted by pressure of naked feet. Few people would live in Persia from choice, for most of the year the climate is decidedly unhealthy, and the heat in summer is intense. Old people. are rarely seen, and the Europeans who reside in the laud of the Shah seem anything but robust. Singularly enough, amongst the foreign element, the Russians seem to thrive best. The mourners at a Persian funeral wipe away their tears with wads of cotton wool or little sponges, which are afterwards squeezed into bottles. The tears are preserved as a powerful and efficaoious restorative for those whom every medicine has failed to revive. This constitutes a most important part of the obsequies of the dead. Mulberries are cultivated in Persia on a largo scale, and silk is ono of the most important produces of the kingdom. An enormous trade might be done had the Persian Government taken the trouble to procure healthy grain from abroad, and stamped out the silkworm disease, which of late years has played ead havoc with the industry. The Gebr fire-worshippors of Persia are a remarkable race of people. They are a simple, uneducated class, rustic and uncouth. They marry but one wife, with the result of enjoying a greater amount of conjugal felicity, than prevails amongst the Mohammedan Persians. When one of their number dies, the body is plnced on the summit of a hill exposed to the sun and the birds of prey. Here it remains till the flesh is thoroughly consumed, when tho bones are thrown into * common pit. * . The present Shah is very highly educated. He knows most of the oriental languages, and is deeply read in the classical literature of the East. He is a great theologian, has studied Aristotle and Plato, knows French well, has a big telescope set up in his palace, is a keen sportsman and an excellent shot, and dePer3 to the opinion of his wife, a princess of the Royal blood of the Kadjar, who is all powerful at the capital. On ascending the throne, the Shah's first step was to abolish the taxes on bread, meat, and other necessaries of life. A fearful punishment was meted out to tho chief members of a conspiracy who attempted to assassinate a former Shah of Persia. Abour thirty persons were put to death, and they met their doom without shrinking. Suleinias Khan, the chief of the conspirators, suffered torture previous to execution. Some were cut to pieces others were blown f rom mortars. Holes were pierced in various parts of Suleinmn Khan's body, into which lighted candles were placed, and allowed to burn down to the flesh, and, while still alive, he was divided into two parts with a hatchot During these horrible tortures he is said to have defied his tormentors, dancing part of the way to the place of execution and preserving his fortitude till the last.