198 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



tribute. Their dress is sometimes the Turkish including the turban, some- 

 times consists of a long brown coat worn over wide trowsers, with a red 

 handkerchief around the waist, and upon the head a pointed red cap, which 

 hangs down in ends at the sides. Many also wear the Persian dress. 

 The women wear turban-like caps, with a veil attached behind, and long 

 petticoats with long ribands around the waist, the ends hanging down behind. 

 (PL 15, fig. 13, pi. 16, Jig. 7, Kurds ; Jig. 8, dance of Kurdish wowen.) 



The Persians. 



The Persians are divided into nomads and such as have permanent 

 residences. The majority live in cities and villages ; poor people in 

 miserable mud hovels, persons in good circumstances in brick houses, 

 the rich in palaces generally encircled by gardens and having apartments 

 ornamented and cooled by fountains. The present inhabitants of Persia 

 are the descendants of various nations that successively occupied the 

 country. The Tadshiks constitute the principal mass of the people, and 

 are at the same time the aborigines. They are of medium size and 

 well grown, slender, but strongly built and muscular. The face is 

 regular, the nose arched, the mouth small ; the hair and beard, which are 

 carefully nourished, are black. The hair on the hind part of the head, 

 a hand's-breadth from the forehead and downwards, is shaved off, but the 

 remainder is worn pretty long. In their dress dark colors are preferred. 

 Their long, wide trowsers are of silk or cotton, the shirt mostly of silk, 

 the tight waistcoat of cotton stuff; the coat long, and girded around 

 with a broad shawl. People of rank w^ear an overcoat trimmed with 

 costly furs. The poor wear jackets with the trowsers, and in winter 

 sheepskin coats. All classes use sheepskin caps about a foot in height, 

 which the rich and distinguished gird around with shawls. Boots are 

 worn only for riding ; at other times shoes and slippers, usually yellow or 

 red, with men of rank green, cover the feet. Although their religion 

 enjoins frequent bathing, they are nevertheless no friends of cleanliness, 

 and their clothes are seldom changed. The dress of the female sex is 

 plain but rich. Their trowsers are very wide, made of thick velvet, and 

 come down to the heels. Over these they wear a chemise of silk, muslin, or 

 gauze, which is open to the middle of the body, and fastened by a wide and 

 richly ornamented girdle. In winter they wrap themselves besides in 

 a shawl. Slipper-like shoes clothe the feet. When going abroad they 

 envelope themselves in a veil or mantle reaching to the feet, but having a 

 line net in front of the face, or two holes for the eyes. They ornament 

 the ends of their hair braids with flowers, pearls, &c. The frontlets, 

 diadems, and hoods, worn by the women, are of many different shapes, and 

 more or less costly. The common head-dress, however, is simply a shawl, 

 hanging loosely down in front and behind. Girls are instructed in the 

 schools, in reading, writing, and embroidery, until their age, according to 

 the customs of this part of the world, no longer permits them to go out 

 370 



