72 
BUSHIRE TO SHIRAZ. 
obeisance to the Envoy, and preceded his horse, until we arrived at the 
door, where the Khan himself was waiting. He received us most graci¬ 
ously, and after we had pulled off our boots and shoes, and Sir Har¬ 
ford and the Khan had gone through some little polite difficulties 
about their seats, we finally settled ourselves on chairs prepared for us. 
The Khan’s tent was very neat, and appeared to us a most desirable 
residence. It had a large exterior covering, and close to the extremity 
a wall all round; and in the interior, there was a clean little recess 
closely covered with carpets, and lined with the finest chintz, the 
borders of which were adorned with a broad fringe. Our host was a 
man of great notoriety both in Persia and in India; his manners were 
greatly in his favour, and he was dressed more like a noble than any 
other man whom I had yet seen in the country. His beard presented 
no plebeian roughness, and the dagger in his girdle glittered with pre¬ 
cious stones. When the usual compliments had been severally paid, 
that silence of solemnity, which generally marks the visits of form, suc¬ 
ceeded, till the kaleoons , or water pipes, were introduced to our relief. 
The coffees and sherbets followed, and the whole entertainment con¬ 
cluded with a course of sweetmeats, which was brought upon separate 
trays, each serving two guests. The only unsatisfactory part of the visit 
was the intended politeness of two lusty attendants, who broke some of 
the sweetmeats in their suspicious hands, blew the dust off the fragments 
with their more suspicious mouths, and then laid them before us. After 
a washing of hands, (in which we felt the full want of towels), and a 
parting kaleoon , we took our leave, and left the Envoy to a private con¬ 
ference with the Khan. 
The trays, from which we eat, had the appearance of silver, though 
I understood afterwards that they were plated only. They were neatly 
carved in flowers and other ornaments. The articles which they con¬ 
tained were made of almonds, pistachio nuts, and a paste of sugar; 
| others were like our alicampane and barley sugar, and all were very nice. 
The Persians are almost indescribably fond of sweetmeats, which they 
eat in very great quantities. The abundance indeed of fruits and sher- 
