THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 39' 



myself of my influence with Hosruff Khan, to procure frona' 

 him some genuine Persian ;«<v/>iia/, for the wounded Russi- 

 ans. In Turkey and Arabia they highly praised the wonder- 

 ful effects of this medicine, and I was therefore eager to 

 convince myself of its efficacy. But as the cases 1 had to 

 treat rather required the use of instruments, I postponed 



the trial. 



Our return to Bagdad was via Urugurd and Kermansha. 

 At Urugurd we were detained for several days by the Shaza- 

 dah (the reigning prince), who requested us to attend to a few 

 patients belonging to his household, the healing of whonrv 

 brought us a tolerable little sum of money, and a few hand- 

 some presents. Here again we had an opportunity of wit- 

 nessing the manners and customs of the Persians. It was 

 then Rluharem ( time of mourning }, and the tenor of the 

 Shazadah's order ran thus, " during the time of the mourn- 

 ing, all merchants are summoned to appear in the Meidan 

 ( a square in front of his palace ) at three in the afternoon, 

 in order to shed their tears for the martyrs, Hassain and 

 Hussain." On one occasion we saw the Faratshes (Shazadah's 

 servants ) dragging a tradesman by force out of his shop, 

 which was at the caravansary where we lived, and driving 

 him to the Meidan. The plea of necessity was urged, to 

 make those people weep by blows, whose feelings did not 

 afford them tears freely. But we witnessed other atrocities, 

 on the last days of the Muharem. We saw fakirs and 

 dervishes, with tiRer-skins round their bodies, their long 

 black hair hanging down and covering their faces and backs, 

 beating themselves with iron- headed clubs, till the blood 

 flowed down their bodies. They ran like savage beasts, or 

 maniacs, through the streets and bazaars, howling, " Ya 

 Ali !" One of our friends, a native of Bagdad, told us, that 

 if any of the Sunits, to which sect he belonged, should 

 venture that day to acknowledge his religion, he would run 

 the risk of being immolated by the fanatical Persians ; so 

 inveterate is the hatred between these two sects, though 

 they are both Mahomedan ; and this is not the case in 

 Persia alone, but in every place where Shias and Sunits are 



