70 HORMUZD EASSAM, ESQ.^ ON BIBLICAL LANDS, THEIR 



and the reforms established in Turkey through the influence 

 ot the famous Elchee (ambassador), Lord Stratford de Red- 

 cliffe. Ill most places, especially in Syria, degrading restric- 

 tions were imposed upon the Jews and Christians in their 

 attire. They were not allowed to wear anything approaching 

 to white or green, especially in regard to turbans ; and at 

 one time in a large number of cities, no Christian or Jew was 

 allowed to ride a horse — donkeys were their lot. In some 

 parts of Persia at one time (1 do not know whether it is the 

 same now or not), if a Jew was fortunate enough to have a 

 new outer garment made of whatever stuff it might be, he 

 was obliged to sew a patch on a visible part either the back 

 or front. I remember when I was at Bitlis some time ago, 

 the Armenians complained to me that their young men could 

 not wear embroidered jackets, as the Coords told them they 

 had no business to put them on, because the Moslems did 

 not possess any like them, which was true, as the wretched 

 Coords were too indigent to possess any. The turban is 

 rapidly getting out of use, even amongst the Moslems, as 

 most of the respectable class have adopted the fez, and not 

 a few have taken to wearing European clothes, coat, trousers, 

 and waistcoat. The ladies, too, have changed, in a great 

 measure, their primitive costumes, and adapted themselves 

 to European styles, even to the wearing of gloves, boots, and 

 in the carrying of sunshades. The nomad Arabs and Coords, 

 on the contrary, keep to their old costumes, which I think 

 have not changed from the primitive time, excepting in 

 regard to the turban, which is worn by the latter. The 

 food of the Coords, Arabs, and the lower classes of the 

 inhabitants of Biblical lands has not much changed, as the 

 " savoury meat," which Jacob desired Esau his son to pre- 

 pare for him is still a standing dish amongst the primitive 

 inhabitants of the mountains and the desert. The Arabs' 

 mode of living, especially, resembles at the close of this 

 nineteenth century the life led by Biblical sages. The Arabs, 

 particularly the women, still keep to the habit of not wear- 

 ■ ing drawers or trousers, as the custom used to be amongst 

 the ancients like Noah* and the Israelites.! Amongst both 

 Christians and Moslems it is a sin to enter a sanctuary or 

 any place of worship with their shoes on, though the former 

 are now following the European habit of performing their 

 religious rites with their dirty shoes or boots on. The 



* Genesis ix, 21. t Exodus xx, 26. 



