TEHERAN. 
ancient and honoured in Persia: they reckon among themselves four 
Kings— Fath Ali Shah, who was killed by Shah Thamas ; Hassan 
Khan, who was killed by Kerim Khan ; Aga Mahomed; and the 
present King, his nephew and successor. Of this tribe there are two 
races; the first is the Yokaree Bash , of which the King's family and 
that of the mother of the Heir apparent are both sprung; the second 
is the Asheea Bash. The nobility of the King's progeny varies much ac¬ 
cording to that of the mothers. 
The two great tribes, are the Baktiari and the Bailee. They consist 
of one hundred thousand families each, which, at five persons in a 
family, makes two totals of five hundred thousand souls. The Bak- 
tiars, of all the tribes, send the most troops to the King's service. 
The King's body-guard consists of twelve thousand men, half of 
whom are disciplined in the European manner, and are called Jan-haz , 
in contra-distinction to those raised and disciplined by the Princes, 
(and particularly Abbas Mirza, Governor of Aderbigian ,) who are 
called Ser-baz. “ Jan-baz” means one who plays away his soul; 
“ Ser-baz” means one who plays away his head only. 
The Twelve thousand who form the King's body-guard are taken 
indiscriminately from the tribes, or from the population of the cities, 
but principally from Mazanderan and the tribes connected with the 
King's own race. They have their families and homes at Teheran, and 
in the neighbouring villages, and are ready at every call. They are 
divided into bodies of, three thousand men and do duty by turns in the 
King’s palace, called the Ark. They are called Kechekchees or Guards, 
and every such body has a Ser Kechekchee, or Head of the Guard, who 
always attends when his corps is on duty; and on the relief of the 
guard a Mirza belonging to the corps reads over every man's name, 
and in case of non-attendance the defaulter receives punishment. These 
Ser Kechekchees are men of so much family and distinction, that one 
of the King's own sons enjoys the dignity. The Kechekchees are distri¬ 
buted in all parts of the palace, and are always seen on guard on the 
