day, while he was paying him a visit, the saint was employed during their conversation in paring the nails of his hands and feet, which the meerza picked up from the carpet to throw away; when an Indian of the sect who was in the chamber, seated at a respectful distance, prevented him from doing so by a significant gesture; when he left the room, the Indian followed him, and most earnestly begged him for the nail parings as a most precious possession, which the meerza, inwardly laughing at the man's superstition, after a while gave him. In like manner the shavings of his head, the water he washed in, and such offals, were preserved as valuable relics by his followers; and instead of paying wages to his servants, he would frequently give them one of his old robes, which cutting into pieces they would sell at a high price to the pilgrims who come to visit the saint. These devotees are so eager to pour in presents upon their ghostly chief, that he had accumulated great riches. He was succeeded in his religious capacity by one of his sons, who meets with a similar respect from the sect."

Education is at a low ebb in Mushed, as, indeed, it is all over Persia. Mr. Frazer says:

"The poorer moollahs, who cannot support themselves, have sometimes a small allowance from the extra revenues of the medressa, when the moolwullee, or director, can prevail upon himself to part with so much for the purpose. Pecuniary remuneration for tuition is seldom expected or received; but when a moollah has educated the children of a rich or noble family, a provision of some de

scription is generally made for him.

"The objects chiefly attended to in the Persian colleges are, first, to afford instruction on all points connected with the Mahometan faith, the study of the Koran, and all the standard theological works that relate to the doctrine of the Sheahs; then the study of metaphysics and of logic, both of which are taught in a very degraded style; the first consisting, as far as I could learn, of little more than a series of argumentative disputations, upon wild and unprofitable paradoxes; and the second, of an ingenious method of playing upon words, the object being not so much to arrive at truth, as to display quickness of mind and readiness of repartee in the formation and discussion of plausible hypotheses. Mathematics are taught upon better principles, for they are acquainted with the works of Euclid; but they are scarcely ever applied to any useful purpose.

t

"Astronomy is made an object of study; but their views are so contracted, and their theories, founded upon the Ptolemean system, but eked out with strange additions of their own, are so wild and fanciful, that it can be turned to no good; indeed, it is chiefly made subservient to their favourite science of astrology, the value and importance of which is acknowledged by every Persian. No one will undertake the most trivial affair in life, far less those of greater importance, without consulting a professor of this science for a lucky hour or day; and thus, when a moollah becomes celebrated as an astrologer, he looks upon his fortune as secure.

c 2

"The

"The profits of science chiefly rest with those who successfully study divinity, astrology, and physic. The latter consists in practising the lowest degree of empyricism, with a knowledge of the qualities and effects of a few simples, exercised with a sufficient degree of grave assurance; and a few lucky cures, most probably the work of nature in spite of the physician, serve to establish his reputation, The medical profession, however, is but ill paid in Persia; those of divinity and astrology, which are very often combined, thrive the best; and when a man has obtained a reputation for sanctity and orthodoxy, he soon gains followers. It appears, that the priests collect around them a flock, numerous in proportion to their estimation, among whom they perform duties nearly analogous to those of a parish priest in Europe; but they have no fixed salary, and live upon the voluntary contributions which they receive, and which often are sufficiently abundant."

At an interview with the prince under whom this province is placed, our countryman discovered still more of their want of useful knowledge:

"A seat," he tells us, was pointed out for me above the middle of the room, just below the moonujoom bashee, (or chief astrologer,) Moollah Abdool Wahab, and another person, the head, I think; of the law, the only persons in presence.

"The prince, seated on his little musnud, in the upper corner of the window, was plainly dressed in black, his person rather full, possessing a good deal of dignity; his features were exactly those of

his family,-a high straight nose, with fine dark eyes, arched eyebrows, a fine open forehead, and a full black beard. He would have made a still better appearance had he been contented with more simplicity, but these princes fancy that a constrained theatrical look, and a very loud voice, are essential to dignity. Accordingly, he strained a voice naturally rather sweet, to bid me the usual welcome, in hoarse and rough tones, and puffed out his chest, like a proud turkey-cock, to appear majestic as he spoke. He asked me,

if I had been so fortunate as to have reached the dust of the feet of the king of kings?' To which I replied, that when his slave was at Tehran, the father of the world was a mourner;' and this prevented any further queries that might have been inconvenient.

After the usual questions, touching whence I had come, whither I was going, and what my business might be, he entered upon the eternal subject of astrology, astronomy, &c., and requested to see my astrolabe; but, as his dignity forbade his moving, he directed me to show its use to the moonujoom bashee, in the sun. When he was informed that its only use was to take the altitude of the sun and other heavenly bodies, he expressed rather a contemptuous opinion of its powers; but he was very desirous to know whether the telescope did or did not show the stars at noon-day; or if there was not a description of glass that was calculated for that purpose. When I informed him that it was only intended for showing the stars by night, he observed that he had plenty himself which could do that. Then came

another

another baiting on the subject of astronomy, the prince taking the lead, and questions innumerable poured in. The sky, what did it consist of?-The earth, of what and how was it formed?-The regions of water, of air, of fire, by which, according to their theory, the earth is surrounded, what did we think of them? -Does the earth move round the sun, or the sun round the earth?-When to the last I replied, that our theory supported the former opinion, they proposed their objections, which, indeed, were of a very unphilosophical description: for instance, they enquired if it be true that the earth moves round the sun, how does it happen that so great a degree of velocity as that would imply does not cause every thing that is slightly attached to its surface to fly off, or at least to become displaced?—or why does it happen that two stones, thrown from any given point, the one towards the east, the other towards the west, fall each at its relative distance from that point, as if it were at rest? These questions involved me in a painful attempt at explaining, as far as I could, the nature of gravitation, and those laws which regulate the motions of bodies upon the earth's surface. This constant recurrence to one and the same succession of topics was very irksome to me, and the want of requisite acquaintance with the scientific terms of their language perplexed me sorely. There could be no hope of producing any conviction of the reasonable nature of the European theories in the minds of those who heard me, even had I possessed a very superior degree of eloquence and science. What was

·

to be expected from men who had grown old in reasoning on and believing such childish speculations as these that the sky is formed of a substance which they denominate the origin of matter,' which encompasses the earth like a hollow globe; that the stars are either portions of light from the throne of God, shining through holes like nailholes in this primitive substance, or glittering patches nailed to it as to a ceiling, or they may be glimpses of the region of fire seen through it? In fact, I never met with any one who could give a consistent explanation even of their own theory, or who could describe in what manner the seven regions of which they speak are supposed by them to encompass the earth; what positions they occupy with reference to this shell of primitive matter, or how they revolve (for it is said they do revolve around the earth.) Nor, although I have repeatedly and patiently pressed the enquiry upon their most celebrated astronomers, could I ever get one of them to explain to me how the sun was situated, with reference to these different regions, or shells (which some one compared to the peelings of an onion,) how his light was transmitted through them, or by what means the vicissitudes of night and day were produced; so low is the condition even of their most venerated science in Persia."

One of the moollahs maintained a still more singular hypothesis:

"That the earth's figure is oval, having one end longer and smaller than the other, like that of some eggs; the long end being that on which America is situated: and on hearing that I had been in America, he enquired with great

earnestness

earnestness whether the nights there were not lighter than in the old world, from receiving obliquely a greater portion of the sun's rays. The observation evinced more reflection than is common here; but I could not make out from whence he deduced his theory. Like most of his countrymen, the moollah was a professed believer in the science of magic; and to convert me from the scepticism I betrayed on this point he related several instances within his own knowledge in which the phenomena, as he conceived, could not be explained in any other way than by attributing them to the black art. These instances being rather tedious than either interesting or convincing, I omit them, but the whole company clamourously asserted their conviction of the fact; and each insisted that he had known individuals thus highly gifted, and especially possessed of the power to change the external appearance of animals; so as to make a man seem a dog or a monkey, or transform a horse into the shape of a man; nay, some of those present gravely assured us that they had witnessed the transformation. It was added, however, that such feats had nothing in common with the abominable and sinful art of magic, but were merely deceptions, produced by the influence of certain drugs and simples; in short, by what is commonly termed natural magic. One man assured us that he had himself seen a person thrown into the air, who came down torn to pieces, the dismembered limbs rejoined after they had reached the ground; a spit thrust through the ears, eyes, and head of another, without his sustaining any real in

jury; the head of a third cut clean off, and reuniting itself to the body after a-while, as if nothing had happened; hundreds of fathoms of rope taken from the body of a fourth; and a variety of other and similar tricks which savoured more of the juggler than of the magician. Another person informed us that he had seen a man enter the body of a camel at the tail, and come out at its mouth; some of the company denied the possibility of this, and I for one could not disguise my incredulity; the ameerzadeh, however, told us, that if we had a mind to prove the truth of this last assertion it might easily be done; for that one of the attendants had informed him, that there was at this time a man in Mushed who could perform the feat in question; he therefore invited all those who chose to be convinced, to meet at his house on the morrow, for the purpose of witnessing it.

"The moollah invited me to dine with him: I believe I owed this invitation entirely to his wish to see my large telescope, and to view the stars through it, rather than to any desire for its master's company. Our meal was a most frugal one, and the pride and illiberal prejudices of the moollah might be seen in the way he treated me. My portion was served on a separate tray, that none of the company might eat with me from the same dish; they were all too jealous of their sanctity to eat with an European, in public at least; yet there was not one of them who would not have licked the dust from off my feet in private, to obtain from me the slightest benefit.

"March 9th. We assembled

at

at the ameerzadeh's to view the exhibition which had been promised us the night before. camel was ready prepared, and, at the expense of knocking down half the wall, was introduced into the inner court. The man was all ready the company assembled, and all was expectation. The delay, however, still continuing, the cause was enquired into, and we were then informed that the operator was ready to perform his part, but that a particular drug necessary to the success of a charm was wanting, and had been vainly sought for in Mushed; thus, as in most similar cases, the matter ended in smoke.

"Persians, (says our author elsewhere,) when they are addicted to wine, (and the instances are far from unfrequent,) preserve no restraint, and show very little anxiety to conceal their frailty, unless when they are persons following grave occupations. Indeed their maxim is, that there is as much sin in a glass as in a flaggon; and that if they incur the penalty, they will not forego the pleasure; which to them consists, not in the gradual exhilaration produced by wine and conversation among companions who meet to make merry, but in the feelings of intoxication itself; and therefore a Persian prefers brandy, and deep potations, because these soonest enable him to attain that felicity."

In two places, Mr. Frazer mentions the Persian ram, which from his description, we should think well worth importing into Europe. Near Nishapore, he says. "the mountains in this vicinity are frequented by the wild sheep: while

I was at the village, a ram of this description was killed by one of their hunters, and brought to me as a present, in hopes of a handsome return. It was a noble animal, just what it might be conceived the finest sort of domestic ram would be in a state of nature, bold, portly, and very strong, thick like a lion about the neck and shoulders, and small in the loins; covered with short reddish hair that curled closely about the neck and fore-quarters, and bearing an immense pair of crooked and twisted horns; its flesh, of which we had a part, was remarkably well-flavoured."

At Boojnoord, he also states: "I here saw another of those noble animals, the wild sheep of the mountains; it was a male with fine horns; its hair, however, differed somewhat from that which I had seen at the mines near Nishapore, being exactly similar to that of the burrul of the Himalah mountains; insomuch, that I felt disposed to believe, that if they are not exactly the same animal, there is a very near approximation in the species of the latter to the sheep of the mountains of Khorasan."

In this part of the travels, that is, after leaving Mushed, and getting among the wilder Koords, we have the following remarkable particulars:

"During a short space of clear weather, the horsemen in advance observed a parcel of wild hogs feeding in a marshy hollow upon our left; and half a dozen of them immediately spurring off towards them succeeded in cutting off their retreat and driving them up the slope towards us: they selected one larger than the rest, in particular,