10 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



rapaciousness and cruelty are a proverb in Persia. The daughters of these 

 mountaineers, especially in the province of Ghelan, are extremely beautiful. 



In the tovs^ns, from causes already mentioned, the inhabitants present a very 

 different aspect; for the long admixture of Georgian and Circassian blood has done 

 much to improve the Tartar physiognomy of the rural tribes, and the somew^hat 

 heavy figures and sallow^ color of the original Persians. 



" At the present time," says Chardin, " there is scarcely a man of rank in 

 Persia w^hose mother is not either a Georgian or Circassian. The King himself 

 is mostly derived, on the maternal side, from this exotic source ; and as it is a long 

 time since this mixture commenced, the w^omen of Persia have also become much 

 more beautiful, though they do not equal those of Georgia. As for the men, they 

 are generally tall and erect, w^ith a graceful manner and agreeable deportment."* 



The modern Persians are polite and polished in their manners, and extrava- 

 gantly addicted to flattery. They are obsequious to their superiors, but affect to 

 despise all foreigners. They are proverbial adepts in deception, and like the 

 Arabs, make a merit of their frauds vs^hen these have been practised with adroit- 

 ness. They are lively and imaginative, fond of music and poetry, and idolise the 

 names of Hafez and Saadi. The Persian language is a dialect of that of Fars, and 

 is used in poetry and general literature, but the Turkish is the court language. 

 The present rulers of Persia (vrho are Tartars of the Kujur race) have, of course, 

 established Mahomedanism as the state religion ; but the Ghebres and Parsees still 

 worship fire as the emblem of the Supreme Being. The great body of this sect, 

 however, was driven from Persia by the Arabs under the Chalif Omar in the 

 seventh century. They established themselves in India, and especially in the 

 province of Surat, where they are still numerous, and constitute an industrious 

 population. 



The Iliyats^ or wandering tribes of Persia, are chiefly of exotic extraction, 

 and form a distinct body of people. Morier compares them to foreign shoots, 

 grafted on the original Persian stock. They date from the conquest by the 

 Saracens, A. D. 651, and their numbers were augmented during the subsequent 

 invasions of Genghiz and Tamerlane. They are of Mongol-Tartar extraction, but 

 have mingled for centuries with the Persians, to whom they have imparted their 

 roving propensities. They are by turns cultivators, shepherds, soldiers, and free- 

 booters.f 



* Chardin, Voy. 11, p. 34. f Morier, in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc, VII, p. 230. 



