SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE. 25 



walls I came suddenly upon a tall veiled woman ; 

 following her was her female attendant. She was 

 either coming from or going to the bath. She was 

 to all appearance a lady of rank. Her dark-blue 

 silk veil, which covered her from head to foot, was 

 rustling and swaying as she approached steadily 

 down upon me. The circumference of the veil, 

 below where it swept the wall oil both sides, would 

 have rivalled the crinoline of any London belle. As 

 I said before, the street was narrow. What was to 

 be done 1 ? Turn I could not, even had I wished to 

 do so, for my servant was following close upon 

 me; and had I turned back to get out of the way 

 of a woman, he would probably have instantly poured 

 forth upon her a volume of startling and horrible 

 abuse. For this a Persian invariably does if a woman 

 happens to get into his way, and often he will strike 

 at her with his whip. It then occurred to me, it was 

 just within the bounds of possibility that, if I pushed 

 my horse close in against the wall to allow her as 

 much room as possible to pass, her curiosity to see 

 the Feringee would cause her to lift her veil as 

 she went by. My curiosity was at that point, that I 

 would have charged the very Avail itself, had I been 

 sure that the unveiled face of this majestic form 

 would have greeted me on the other side. In the 

 full consciousness of her youth and beauty for the 

 latter I had quite made up my mind she possessed, 

 the former could not but exist with that proud airy 



