122 
EXPOSURE TO THE SUN. 
easily comprehend the pleasure, as well as policy, which led the 
ancient lords of this great empire to affect a nomade life. But 
were it the fashion with the modern Persian, like his kings of old, 
to change his residence according to the progress of the seasons, 
he need not, in general, travel far to accomplish his object; the 
vast hills in the neighbourhood of almost every town, affording 
him a variety of climates, by only taking different stages of the 
mountain, or its valleys, for his abode. But as this sort of ma¬ 
nagement for health and comfort is seldom even thought on by 
the natives, the natural consequence ensues; and the usual 
effects of an Asiatic climate in due time are exhibited on them 
all. From custom in some, and necessity in others, little care 
is taken to protect them from the sun ; and hence come dread¬ 
ful attacks of fever, and frequent bilious affections, which finally 
settle into miserably chronic complaints, or end in jaundice, 
dropsy, and the fatal cholera morbus. Sir John Malcolm, in 
his admirable history of this empire, seems to explain how neglect 
of shelter from the sun has become so common in the East, that 
to a European eye the exposure of the natives often appears 
little short of madness. Protection from its beams seems to 
have been reserved for the great alone: and hence he derives 
the word satrape , (the old title for a prince, or governor of a 
province,) from the term chattrapa , or “ lord of the umbrella, 
or shade of state.” Bearing an umbrella, as a distinction of 
dignity, is still a custom in many countries of the East; and 
that it was so from the earliest times in Persia, may be gathered 
from the sculptures at Persepolis; where that sort of shade is held 
over the figure of the chief or king, whether he be seated, or 
walking. Chattra , which signifies umbrella, is both a Persic and 
a Shanscrit term; and pa , a contraction o t'pati (lord), though 
