108 
PERSIAN NURSES. 
day. They scarcely ever take the bandages off theirs; consequently 
they soon become filthy. They were anxious to apply the surmeJi to 
the eyes of the Ambassador’s child; an application which they never 
fail of using to their own children; they also dye their hair and hands 
with Khena. What they most carefully guard against is the evil eye, 
whicli is as much feared in Persia, as in other parts of Asia. They 
hang about the child’s neck, or sew to its cap, a bangle, the colour of a 
turquoise, which they look upon as the most fortunate, and serves to 
annul the glance of an evil eye. They also insert paragraphs of the 
Koran into little bags, which they sew on the child’s cap, or on its 
sleeve, esteeming them as great preservatives against sickness. If a 
visitor should praise the looks of a child, and if afterwards the child 
should fall sick, the visitor immediately gets the reputation of having an 
evil eye; and the remedy is, to take a part of his clothes, which, with 
the seed of the Ispedan they burn in a chafing-dish, and walk around 
and around the child. Him who has the reputation of having an evil 
eye, they keep at a distance. 
The Ambassador’s child was christened by the Rev. Henry Martyn, 
who had lately joined us from India. The Persians have no ceremony 
that corresponds entirely to our christening, because their children 
become Mahomedans as soon as the Kelemeh Islam has been whispered 
into their ear ; but they have one called the Sheb be khair, or “ be the 
night propitious,” which is for the purpose of giving the child a name. 
If the father of the child be in good circumstances, he collects his 
friends together and makes a feast. He also requires the attendance of 
several Mollahs, and when the mejlis or assembly is complete, sweet¬ 
meats are brought in and eaten. The infant is also brought into the 
mejlis, and placed near one of the Mollahs. The father of the child 
then gives out certain names, five in number, each of which is written 
separately, on separate slips of paper. These slips of paper are placed 
either within the Koran, or under the edge of the nummud^ or carpet. 
The Fatheh, which is the first surai or chapter of the Koran, is 
* (. k the seed of cresses. 
