Travels into the 'L'e.y&tir. Part II. 
Civil Laws of 
Perjïa. 
Divifion of 
Eftates a- 
mongft the 
Children. 
An unruft law 
againft the 
Chriftians of 
the Coantiey. 
Dgiafer. 
Dufihacha. 
A kind of pu- 
îiilîiment. 
The rack for 
malefadors. 
Tlie rack for 
women. 
Kinds of Pu- 
niihments. 
iojie ftops and ftrives to fhake it off, and the Hawk flutters with its 
Wings to keep its hold , which hinders the Antela-pe from running 
faft , or feeing well before him : At length when with much a doe 
he hath fhaken it off; the Falcon which is aloft ftoops and comes 
in the place of the other , which immediately points up and keeps 
above, ready to fucceed to its Companion when it is forced olf ; and 
in this manner they fo ftop the Antelopes running, that the Dogs come 
in and catch him. This fport is the more pleafànt that the Countrey 
is open and champian, there being little wood in it. The King hath alfo 
a great many Elephants, and many wild Beafts fuch as Tygres, Lions, 
and Leopards. 
In the enumeration of the Officers of the Court of Per/ia^ I have fpo- 
ken occafionally of thofe who adminifter Juftice, and frame publick and 
private afts and deeds : It remains now that I fhould add what I have 
learned of the particular Laws of the Countrey. As for civil Affairs, in the 
diftribution of inheritances in Fer/ia^ the Sons have two parrs, and the 
Daughters one. If there be but one Son and one Daughter, the Son takes 
two thirds, and the Daughter the other third ; and if there be two 
Sons and one Daughter, the Sons have each two fifth parts, and the 
Daughter one, if there be two Daughters and a Son, the Son takes two 
thirds, and the other is divided betwixt the two Daughters ; and if there be 
two Sons and two Daughters, each Son has a third, and thè laô third is for 
the two Daughters. 
But as to the right of inheritance they have a very unjuft Law, devl- 
fed for the propagation of the Faith of Mahomet. And that is, if a Chri- 
ftian turns Mahometan^ when any of his kindred dies, all the Efiate of the 
departed belongs to him, to the exclufion of his Children, though he be 
no nearer to him than in the fifth Degree of Kindred. He who inftituted 
that Law, gave it ouc that it was commanded by Dgiafer^ one of the 
twelve Imams, and that Dgiafer affirmçd that it was revealed to him from 
God- Neverthelefs, this evil is not without remedy, for the Mahome- 
tan Judges Cknowing the Iniquity of this Law,j have found out a knack to 
caufe dying Chriftians to make a pretended Sale of all their Goods to trufty 
Perfons ; and when that is done they difpofe of all their Eltates by 
Will, and the pretended Purchalers approve before the Judges of all that 
the deceafed hath done in difpofmg of the Eftate which he hatli fold to 
them. The Judges admit of this the more willingly, that they get money by 
it, which they could not have if a Mahometan carried away all. 
As for Criminals, they ufe a fingular way in binding Prifbncrs : They 
put a forked piece of Timber before their Throat, the handle being a 
foot long, and the two prongs of the Fork goe on each fide of the Neck; 
behind there is a wooden bar that joyns the two ends of the grains, and 
is nailed to them, fo that the whole makes a triangle ; before the throat 
there is another wooden bar, nailed at each end to the middle of the 
prongs and at the end of the handle of this fork which is cut a little 
hollow, the Prifoners hand is put, with the Wrift in the hollow, and over 
it they put another bar half a foot long, which is likewife a little hol- 
low in the middle, and the two ends thereof are nailed to the two 
Extremities of the handle of the Fork, fb that the Prifoner has his 
hand, as it were, in a ScarfF, and can make no ufe of it ; This Inftru- 
ment may be about a foot and a half or two foot long, and they call it 
Dufchacha. 
The ordinary Rack to extort a Confeflion of Robberies and other 
Crimes, is for men to pinch off the Flefh with hot Pinfers, and to give 
blows on the feet with a Cudgel, as in Jurky : For the Women they put 
a Rat into their Drawers, fo that the Rat being betwixt the Drawers and 
the Flefh torments them extremely. 
The ufual punifhments they inflid upon Malefaftors whom they 
would not put to death, is to pluck out their Ey€s ; or elfe to pierce the 
Nerves 
