TEHERAN. 
205 
The whole present amounted, by our computation, to six hundred 
and fifty piastres, for which, according to the return which we made, 
we paid most dearly. The wretched traffic of presents places the Per¬ 
sian character in a very unfavourable light. The meannesses and obli¬ 
gations to which they will submit for the sake of a present, and their 
jealousies and anxieties about its amount, are at least very ridiculous. 
The presents which the King distributes on the Nooroz are costly; to 
each of the chief men and officers of his court he sends a kalaat, (a dress 
of honour, consisting of a complete suit of brocade with a shawl); and 
he sometimes gives a horse and its caparisons. The kalaats indeed are' 
furnished in specified contributions, by particular cities, ( Yezd , Shiraz, 
and Ispahan ,) and by the Ameen-ed-Doulah ; and each kalaat is the 
means of paying the servant who may bear it; as the present, which 
he invariably receives as a perquisite in return is deducted from his wages. 
The number of the kalaats is reckoned at nine hundred ; and their 
value, on an average of three hundred piastres, will amount to two hun¬ 
dred and seventy thousand. Besides this, the King distributes hand¬ 
fuls of money at his public Dewan to those who attract his favour. A 
large vase of gold and silver coins mixed stands at his elbow ; in this 
he puts his hand, and taking out as much as he can grasp, pours it 
into the two extended palms of the man who is lucky enough to engage 
his notice. 
On the 21st, the weather, which had been unfavourable, cleared up, 
and a fine morning was enlivened by three discharges of artillery in 
honour of the Norooz. 
This festival is One of those which have remained in opposition to 
Mahomedanism, and 1 was one of the first kept sacred in Petsia in the 
ages of the worship of fire 1 . Richardsotst says, “ that their chief festit 
“ Vais were those about the' equinoxes; the next were those of water 
“ at Midsummer, and of fire at the Winter solstice. The first was the 
“ 'Norooz , which commenced with their year in March, and lasted six 
w days, during which all ranks seem to have participated in one gene- 
