Account of a Journey to Choy hi Perjia, 225 



Their great fafts in Ramafan are obferved fo ftriftly, that they 

 fpend whole days in prayer, and tafte no food till the evening. 



At their marriages no other ceremonies are ufual than, at 

 the time of the betrothing, the male and female friends af- 

 femble at the houfe of the bride, and fing from morning till 

 night, dance, and make merry, till the wedding day ; after 

 which thcv fpend three more days in a fimilar manner. At 

 the birth of a child, the midwife, after it has been waflied, 

 befprinkles it with fait water, and gives it any name flie 

 thinks proper, A woman, after delivery, is accounted un- 

 clean for forty days ; during which flie muil neither deep 

 with her hufband, pray in the church, nor perform any do- 

 meliic office. Marriage is forbidden only between the firil 

 degrees of confancjuinity, fuch as that of brother and fifterj 

 in all other degrees it is permitted. A man may keep as 

 manv wives as he choofes : the firft muft always be a maid, 

 but the reft may be widows. If a married woman is guilty 

 of adultery, the hufband has a right to put her to death, as 

 well as the adulterer. If a hufband, however, is unfaithful, 

 the wife has no rcfource. Men are accounted lit for marriage 

 from the age of fifteen to fifty, and women from that of twelve 

 to forty, li a man lofes all affeftion for his wife, he may 

 give her a letter of divorce and fend her away ; but a woman 

 cannot feparate from her hufband without his confent. 



They bury their dead in the following manner : — The body 

 is waflied, and a mullah, or prieft, is fentfor to accompany it 

 to the grave; the mullah then recites fome prayers, and the 

 body being depofited in the grave the relations cover it with 

 earth. The relations do not return to the houfe of the de- 

 ceafed for three days, but at the expiration of that period 

 they prepare an entertainment in honour of his memory; 

 and this feftival is repeated on the feventh, and again on the 

 fortieth day. 



During nine months of the year thcfe people remain fta- 

 tionary in their villages; but after the firft of Juiy they retire 

 with their cattle to the river Tebele among the mountains, 

 where they lead a wandering life till the firft of OAobcr, To 

 the Hefti of deer, fwine, and horfes, they have an averfion. 

 Their language is a fomewhat corrupted dialect of the Tartaric. 



A kind of borax, brought from Akalzi and Wan, is fold 

 at Teflis, for the ufe of the goldfmiths, under the name of 

 bora * . At Oldi, near the ff)rmer of thefe places, about three 

 days journey from Teflis, and at Bajafid, near the latter, 

 there arc faid to be fprings, the water of which is greeuifli, 



' This is the impure miiicial lixivioui fult defcribcd by Muuel uiulcr 

 the name of fal Ptrjicuni. 



Vol. XI, P It 



