26 
HISTORY OF THE SHEIK OF BUSHIRE. 
prison where he was chained by the neck, and again seated in the 
administration. 
I must not omit as a specimen of Persian character, the mode of 
communication which notified this change at Bushire. The Prince’s 
Messenger that brought the intelligence from Shiraz of the disgrace of 
the Nasakchee Bashec , came into the presence of Mahomed Jaffer, 
and told him, “ Come, now is the time to open your purse-strings; 
“ you are now no longer a merchant or in prison; you are now no 
“ longer to sell dungaree , (a species of coarse linen); you are a gover- 
“ nor; come, you must be liberal, I bring you good intelligence: if I 
“ had been ordered to cut off your head, 1 would have done it with the 
“ greatest pleasure; but now, as I bring you good news, I must have 
“ some money.” The man that said this was a servant, and the man 
that bore it was the new Governor of Bushire. 
In a few days Mahomed Jaefeii paid us a visit, in appearance 
perfectly unconscious of the indignities which he had suffered. But the 
habitual despotism which the people are born to witness, familiarises 
them so much to every act of violence which may be inflicted on them¬ 
selves or on others, that they view all events with equal indifference, 
and go in and out of prison, are bastinadoed, fined, and exposed to 
every ignominy, with an apathy which nothing but custom and fatalism 
could produce. 
On the 4th of Dec. the restored Vice-Governor was invested with a 
kalaat , or dress of honour, from the Prince at Shiraz; and his digni¬ 
ties were announced by the discharge of cannon. The form of his in¬ 
vestiture was as follows :—Attended by all the great men, and by all his 
guards (the greater part of whom were the shopkeepers of the Bazar 
armed for the occasion), the new Governor issued from the town to meet 
his vest. As soon as he met it he alighted from his horse, and making 
a certain obeisance was presented with it by the person deputed by the 
Prince to convey it. The whole party then rode to the spot appointed 
for the investiture; thither the kalaat was brought in state on a tray, 
surrounded by other trays decked with sweet-meats. The Governor 
