70 
BAJ-GAH. 
once lost. They afford but little protection to the road, their stations 
being placed at too wide intervals to be able to communicate quickly; 
but they generally are perfectly acquainted with the state of the country, 
and are probably leagued with the thieves themselves, and can thus, if 
they choose, discover their haunts. Their insolence to travellers is 
unparalleled; and no man has ever gone through the country, either 
alone or with a caravan, who has not vented his indignation upon this 
vile police. 
The collections of the toll are farmed, consequently extortion ensues; 
and as most of the rahdars receive no other emolument than what 
they can exact over and above the prescribed dues from the traveller, 
their insolence is accounted for, and a cause sufficiently powerful is given 
for their insolence on the one hand, and the detestation in which they 
are held on the other. 
Baj-gah means “ the place of tributeit may also be rendered 
the receipt of custom; and perhaps it was from a place like this 
that our Saviour called Matthew to follow him'^; because Matthew 
appears, from the 3d verse of the 10th chapter, to have been a pub¬ 
lican; and publicans, who, in the 11th verse of the 9th chapter, are 
classed with sinners, appear to have been held in the same odium as 
are the rahdars of Persia. 
It also explains why Matthew, who was seated at the receipt of 
custom, is afterwards called a publican ; and shows that in the choice 
of his disciples, our Saviour systematically chose them not only from 
among the poorest and humblest class of men, but also from those 
who, from their particular situation in life, were hated by all ranks. 
Matthew, as a toll-gatherer, must like the rahdars have been a man 
known to all ranks of people, and detested on account of this profession. 
When he was seen having "f power against unclean spirits, with power to 
heal all manner of sickness and disease, and following one like our Saviour, 
his life, when compared with what he formerly was, must have been a 
constant miracle. 
* Matt. ix. 9. 
f Matt. X. 1. 
