210 
TEHERAN. 
that is his trumpets and drums, played as usual. At this moment 
the Envoy retired, happy to escape the noise and smoke of the fire¬ 
works, which were to close the entertainment. 
25 th. The King held the races, at which also the Envoy was desired 
to be present. From the Casvin gate, at which we left the city, we 
proceeded about half a mile to a fine even part of the country, where 
a tent was pitched for the King. All his new raised troops were 
arranged on the right and in front of it. On the left, facing the tent, 
we stood in a line, near the Ministers, Mirza Sheefeea, and the 
Ameen-ed-Doulah. Directly opposite his Majesty were eight of his 
sons, richly dressed in velvet and gold-brocade coats, all glittering 
with gold and jewels. One of these carried by his side his father's 
bow and his quiver thickly set with precious stones. The Master of 
the Ceremonies, in the field, was a young Persian who carried an 
ornamented and gilded spear. One or two of the Princes were 
mounted on white horses, the legs, belly, and lower parts of the buttock 
of which were dyed a rich orange colour, terminated at the top by 
little flowers. The Persians much admire this species of disfigurement, 
nor in the East is their taste singular. At about fifty paces distance 
from the Princes, stood the King's band of music with a troop of 
looties and their monkies. The state elephants were on the ground, on 
the largest of which the King, seated in a very elegant howdar , rode 
forth from the city. 
When he alighted he was saluted by a discharge of zombooreks; 
the salute indeed is always fired when the King alights from his horse 
or mounts. In one of the courts of the palace at Shiraz we had pre¬ 
viously noticed this artillery. The zomboorek is a small gun mounted 
on the back of a camel. The conductor from his seat behind guides the 
animal by a long bridle, and loads and fires the little cannon without 
difficulty. He wears a coat of orange-coloured cloth, and a cap with 
a brass front; and his camel carries a triangular green and red flag. 
Of these there were one hundred on the field; and when their salute 
was fired they retreated in a body behind the King's tent, where the 
