38 
RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE. 
of Bushire , Aga Mahomed Jaffer, came to pay his respects also. 
He advanced immediately to the Khan , seized his hand, which he 
kissed, whilst the Khan applied his beard and mouth to the other's 
face, and kissed his cheek. The manners of our guest himself were 
pleasant and modest, and spoke the simplicity of a man bred in camps. 
When the Envoy had inquired after his health, the health of the Prince, 
of the minister, and successively of other great men, the stranger, after 
the interchange of a few compliments, departed to take up his abode with 
the Vice-governor. As he entered Bushire, the guns at the gate were 
fired, but one of them could not bear the shock, and flew out of the 
carriage. For fear therefore of the gates and tower, they did not ven¬ 
ture to discharge the sixty-eight pounder, which was mounted in the 
town; an apprehension not purely imaginary. 
The party appeared particularly gloomy : their clothes were of a dark 
hue, and their caps and their beards were of the deepest black. Every 
one had a musket, a sword, a brace of pistols, and a great variety of 
little conveniences, as powder-flasks* cartouche-boxes, hammers, drivers, 
&c. so that the aggregate equipment displayed every man a figure 
made up for fighting. The Khan was dressed exactly like his fol¬ 
lowers, and was alone distinguished by carrying fewer arms. He 
had, indeed, one Yeduk or led horse before him. The trappings of their 
horses are very simple, compared to those of the Turks. The head-stall 
of the bridle has little bits of gold and silver, or brass fixed to it, with¬ 
out the tassels, chains, half-moons, or beads of a Turkish bridle. Nor 
have they the splendid breast-plate, or the bright and massy stirrup of 
the Turkish cavalry. Their saddle itself is much more scanty in the 
seat, nor is it so much elevated behind. The only finery of a Persian 
saddle is a raised pummel either gilt or silvered; and a saddle-cloth, or 
rather an elegant kind of carpetting, trimmed with a deep fringe. 
On the next day, the Envoy directed me to return, in his name, the 
visit of Mahomed Hass an Khan. Pie was lodged in the house 
which then belonged to the Vice-governor, but which had been the 
property of the late PIajee Khelil Khan, (the Embassador of Persia, 
